332 FG, October 12, 1944

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

The "Bucholtz book"*, has got it wrong. The mission (Mission # 92**) took place on 12 October, 1944.

12 October 1944.

The 332nd Fighter Group strafed railroad traffic from Budapest to Bratislava for a second day in a row. (332nd Fighter Group Mission report # 92). Six members of the 332nd Fighter Group's 302nd Fighter Squadron shot down a total of 9 enemy airplanes. 1 Lt Lee Archer shot down 3 Me-109s, bringing his total aerial victories score to 4. Capt Wendell O. Pruitt shot down 2 enemy airplanes that day, including an He-111 and an Me-109. Other victors included Capt Milton R. Brooks, 1st Lts William W. Green, Jr, Roger Romine, and Luther H. Smith, Jr. (Fifteenth Air Force General Order 4287 and 4604, dated 1 Nov 1944 and 21 Nov 1944, respectively). Enemy anti-aircraft artillery shot down 1st Lt Walter L. McCreary of the 100th Fighter Squadron that day about 25 miles southeast of Lake Balaton, Hungary, at approximately 2 p.m. (Missing Air Crew Report 9084).

For their heroic actions this day, the following nine pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group each earned the Distinguished Flying Cross:

1st Lt. Lee Archer (302nd Fighter Squadron).
Capt. Milton R. Brooks (302nd Fighter Squadron).
1st Lt. Frank E. Roberts (100th Fighter Squadron).
1st Lt. Spurgeon N, Ellington (100th Fighter Squadron).
1st Lt. Leonard E.Turner (301st Fighter Squadron).
Capt. Armour G. McDaniel (301st Fighter Squadron).
Capt. Stanley L. Harris (301st Fighter Squadron).
1st Lt Marion R. Rodgers (99th Fighter Squadron).
1st Lt. Quitman C. Walker (99th Fighter Squadron).

Fifteenth Air Force General Order 4876 dated 5 Dec 1944.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 255 dated 16 Jan 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 287 dated 19 Jan 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 449 dated 31 Jan 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 836 dated 21 Feb 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 1430 dated 15 Mar 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 1811 dated 27 Mar 1945.
Fifteenth Air Force General Order 3484 dated 29 May 1945.

*
332nd Fighter Group - Tuskegee Airmen (Aviation Elite Units No.24).
Bucholtz,Chris.
Oxford:Osprey Publishing,2007.
pp.81-4. (Date in picture captions on pp.81-83, incorrect, as well.).

**
http://tuskegeeairmen.org/wp-content...2_Missions.pdf

See:
The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and other Black Pilots of World War II.
Haulman,Daniel L.
Montgomery:NewSouth Books,2017.
pp.106-7.

Col.