While flying with the 302nd Fighter Squadron, as a combat pilot, nicknamed “Buddy”, Lee Andrew Archer, Jr. flew 169 combat missions in Europe during World War II, flying the Bell P-39 Airacobra, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. Flying a P-51C fighter with the distinctive red tail of the 332nd Fighter Group, known collectively as the “Tuskegee Airmen”, he scored his first victory, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 on July 18, 1944, over Memmingen, Germany.
Archer is best remembered for his exploits of October 12, 1944. During a furious series of dogfights over German-occupied Hungary, he shot down three Hungarian Bf 109s over Lake Balaton, Hungary, in engagements that spanned only 10 minutes.