Maj. Lemuel R. Custis

Major Custis graduated with Class 42-C-SE on March 7, 1942, at the Tuskegee Army Air Field. He shared this monumental distinction with just four other cadets—including future general Benjamin O. Davis Jr.—making them the first five African American combat fighter pilots in United States military history. 

Assigned to the legendary 99th Fighter Squadron, Custis flew 92 active combat missions over North Africa, Sicily, and mainland Italy. He primarily piloted the Curtiss P-40L Warhawk fighter aircraft.

Yes. On January 27, 1944, during the intense Allied amphibious invasion of Anzio, Italy, Custis and his squadron engaged 15 Luftwaffe fighters. He successfully shot down a German Focke-Wulf Fw-190, securing a verified aerial victory that earned him the 

Major Custis's sidearm is an authenticated WWII Colt M1911 US Army service pistol (Serial Number 476738). Initially manufactured by Colt, this weapon accompanied him throughout his historic deployment in the European Theater. The pistol is fully documented—including its temporary transit through Wethersfield, CT police tracking—and stands as a beautifully preserved piece of civil rights and military history.

Lemuel R. Custis actually broke racial barriers before his historic military service, acting as the very first African American police officer on the force in Hartford, Connecticut. After returning from his service as one of the original five Tuskegee Airmen, Major Lemuel R. Custis worked as assistant personnel manager at Underwood Typewriter Company's Hartford, Connecticut division before joining the State of Connecticut's Tax Department.

His time at Underwood overlapped with another distinguished figure in our archive—Major Stephen T. Smith Jr., who served as personnel manager at Underwood's Bridgeport plant until his 1951 retirement. Though the two led personnel operations at different plants, their shared postwar careers at the same company bridge two distinct eras of Connecticut military service.