Lt. Col. Lee Archer and Lt. Col. Hiram Mann, two of the WWII Tuskegee Airmen, share their stories. Under pressure in 1941, the Army set up an all-black pursuit squadron to train for combat duty. The Red-Tail Angels (named for the markings on their aircraft) were born. The Tuskegee Airmen are known for never having lost a bomber to enemy aircraft. According to US Army Col. Nathan Thomas (ret.), the Tuskegee Airmen paved the way for full integration of the US military. *This event is sponsored by the Invest Financial Corp. and hosted by the Downwind Restaurant in Atlanta.
Lieutenant Colonel, Lee A. Archer (September 1919) was a Tuskegee Airman in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He is an Honoree of the American Fighter Aces Association. Archer was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 18 Clusters, the Distinguished Unit Citation and many other service medals.
Hiram Mann is one of fewer than 500 black pilots who flew combat missions in World War II as a Tuskegee Airman. He was originally rejected from the army for two reasons: he was married (pilots at the time were required to be single) and he only had 1 year of college (flight trainees needed a minimum of 2 years). By 1942, however, the military needed pilots more than it needed to uphold strict academic and marital standards. The Army granted Mann's request. Mann graduated from the TAAF flight program as a single-engine combat fighter pilot in June 1944. He went on to fly several aircrafts, including the P-51 Mustang, P-40 Warhawk and P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes and a C-45 Expediter cargo plane. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel with more than 21 years of service. He also eventually earned bachelor's and master's degrees.