High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Lee Andrew Archer, Jr. (September 6, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was a black U.S. fighter pilot in the African-American unit which became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of the first African-American military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps, the U.S. Army Air Forces and later the U.S. Air Force, eventually earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.