Fighter Pilot
He received his military aviation training at Tuskegee Army Air Field (TAAF), Alabama in 1942 and 1943 and was commissioned, 2nd Lt.. USAF, May 1943. He was a fighter pilot in World War II in Europe in the 12th and 15th Air Forces in 1944, with the all-black 302nd Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group. He flew P-40 War Hawk fighter aircraft in training in the states and P-39 Airocobra, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft in combat from Ramitelli Air Field, Italy.
He flew 133 combat missions and is credited with destroying two German
enemy aircraft in aerial combat and 10 German aircraft in ground strafing missions.
He was permanently injured on his 133rd and final combat mission on Friday,
October 13, 1944, as a result of parachuting while unconscious from his burning
P-51 Mustang fighter. The aircraft had caught fire after being severely damaged
in an ammunition dump explosion that occurred while he was strafing a freight
yard near Lake Ablation, Hungary . His parachute pulled him from his plane while
he was unconscious, snapping his right hip and he landed in a tree, still unconscious
near Zegreb, Yugoslavia. He was taken prisoner by German soldiers, and was a
prisoner of war and hospitalized for seven months until the war ended in May
1945.
He was hospitalized for an additional two years unti11947, when he was retired
with the rank of Captain from the US Air Force at age 27, due to permanent combat
injuries.
Luther H. Smith
12th and 15th Air Forces
332nd Fighter Group
302nd Fighter Squadron