potential black pilots at Alabama 's Tuskegee Army Air Field . Archer graduated first in the program in July 1943 and , after receiving his commission as a second lieutenant , was deployed to Italy as part of the 332nd Fighter Group . On October 12 , 1944 , while piloting a P-51 Mustang , Archer downed three Luftwaffe fighters in the sky over Nazi-occupied Hungary . He also was credited with shooting down a fighter over Germany earlier in the year . U.S. military officials could not confirm a fifth downing by Archer in summer 1944 . If they had been able to do so , he would have become the only Tuskegee Airman to be officially designated as an ace . By the end of World War II , Archer had flown 169 combat missions , providing cover and escorting U.S. bombers in over 11 countries , according to the Air Force . He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . Archer remained in the military through 1970 , witnessing its desegregation during the Truman administration and serving in several capacities . Among other things , he became a diplomatic officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- One of America 's top World War II fighter pilots , an African-American who took on Nazis abroad and racism at home , was laid to rest Friday at Arlington National Cemetery . Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer , one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen , died last month in New York at the age of 90 . Archer , who once shot down three German fighters in the span of only a few minutes , went on to become a corporate executive and venture capitalist . His life came to be seen as an example of the potential of any individual , regardless of skin color or background , if given a fair opportunity . Lee Andrew Archer Jr. was born in 1919 in Yonkers , New York . An aviation enthusiast from childhood , he left New York University in 1941 to join the Army . Despite passing a pilot 's test , he was assigned as a communications specialist in Camp Wheeler , Georgia . But several months later , after the United States declared war on the Axis powers , Archer was selected to join a training program for