George Lucas on the Fallen 66

A Tuskegee Airmen MIA remembrance · Dakar Foundation

The Fallen 66

— and the 89 we now know never came home

Sixty-six Red Tail pilots fell in the skies over Europe and were never recovered. The research now counts 89 — pilots and crew. Their families never got closure. We are going to find them.

01 · The Story

They were teenagers — 19, 20, 22 years old — who went out and became heroes.

Under the Hood

Nancy Leftenant-Colon in conversation with Richard Gant

The “Leftenant family”

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the United States armed forces — trained at a segregated airfield in Jim Crow Alabama, they fought two wars at once: one against the Axis over Europe, and one against the country they served. A “Double Victory.”

What George Lucas Wants You to Know About Red Tails | Oprah’s Next Chapter | Oprah Winfrey Network

They flew patrol, strafing and bomber-escort missions from North Africa and Italy, the tails of their fighters painted a distinctive red. George Lucas told their story in Red Tails — “It's that story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things — that's what a real hero is.”

Kevin Clark presenting at the Tuskegee Convention, 2018

Kevin Clark Presenting @ Tuskegee Convention 2018

900+

Black pilots trained at the segregated Tuskegee airfield

400+

served in combat over North Africa, Italy and Europe

27

pilots were still missing in action decades after the war

02 · The Wound — Missing in Action

“It's a fact of war that some men go missing — and that's worse, actually, than getting the telegram… because it leaves this aching feeling of not knowing what happened.”

— George Lucas · The Fallen 66 interview

03 · The Testimony

George Lucas, on the men Red Tails could not bring home

Kevin Clark sat down with the director of Red Tails to talk about the Fallen 66 — why the missing matter, and why “Anybody can be a hero.”

George Lucas POV — Fallen 66Dakar Foundation archives

04 · The Footage

The story, on film.

From the Dakar Foundation archive — footage by Kevin Clark.

Fallen 89 Search and Rescue Trailer

Featured

Our Friend Nancy Leftenant Colon Sits Down With Us

Nancy Talks About Fond Memories about DOTA George Hardy

Nancy Leftenant-Colon & DOTA George Hardy Attending TAI Opening Session

Wrap Up of the Q&A Session of 'The Fallen 66 Project' with the DOTAs

Opening Event — To Secure These Rights

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05 · The Mission — Search & Rescue

A search-and-rescue mission, eighty years after the crash sites went cold.

The Fallen 89 project deploys AI- and AGI-driven research tools to scour archives, battlefield records, military databases, eyewitness accounts, burial records and historical data across the European theater — piecing together long-unanswered puzzles surrounding missing service members.

The goal: support families still seeking closure, and assist in the identification, repatriation and dignified interment of remains at Arlington National Cemetery — with full military honors.

The historic count was 66 fallen pilots. Kevin Clark’s research expanded it — adding the crew members who fell with them. The mission now carries 89 names.

The count grows as the research deepens

6666

pilots + crew · still unaccounted for

01

Battlefield records

Mission reports, squadron logs and crash coordinates from the European theater.

02

Burial records

Wartime field burials, isolated graves and unknowns interred far from home.

03

Eyewitness accounts

Wingmen, villagers, fellow prisoners — the last people who saw them alive.

04

DoD databases

Defense Department case files, lab records and DNA reference data, cross-referenced at machine speed.

06 · Recovered — Two Came Home

Two missions complete. Eighty-seven to go.

The First Name Recovered

Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson

100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group

Joined the Army Air Forces from New York. He was 24 when his plane went down.
Crashed in mountainous southern Austria on December 23, 1944, on an escort mission — his 68th combat mission. Distinguished Flying Cross recipient.
In 2017, during a dig at the crash site near Hohenthurn, Austria, his ring was found in the dirt.
Laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on March 22, 2019 — 75 years after his death — under a missing-man flyover, as his daughter Marla L. Andrews, who was two years old when he died, received the folded flag.

“I heard many people say that he was very friendly, he was very warm, he was extremely personable. I just had the feeling that if he would have lived, it would have been so different.” — Marla L. Andrews, his daughter

★ Arlington National Cemetery · March 22, 2019

One More Name Recovered

2nd Lt. Fred Brewer

Tuskegee Airman · 332nd Fighter Group

One of the Tuskegee Airmen pilots lost in the European theater of World War II whose remains went unrecovered for nearly eight decades.
Identified and brought home through the same rigorous recovery and identification process that returned Captain Dickson.
Laid to rest in Salisbury, North Carolina, in May 2024 — the mission's second successful homecoming.

“One more name recovered. The Fallen Tuskegee Airmen search & rescue mission continues…” — Kevin Clark, Dakar Foundation

★ Salisbury, North Carolina · May 2024

Lt. Col. George Hardy — One of the last remaining Tuskegee combat pilots — a wingman to members of the Fallen 89 and a voice in our oral-history archives — is now a Lonely Eagle.

07 · The Archive

The record of the search.

Imagery from the project. Period photograph and document sourcing is in progress — this archive will grow as the research does.

The Red Tails
332nd Fighter Group · European theater, WWII

Arlington National Cemetery
Where recovered airmen are laid to rest with full honors

The skies over Europe
Sixty-six pilots fell and were never recovered

The paper trail
Mission reports, burial records, eyewitness accounts

Escort missions
Patrol, strafing and bomber escort from North Africa and Italy

Until they are all home
2 recovered · 87 still missing in action

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08 · The Memorial Wall

Eighty-nine points of light. Every star is a man.

We will not put a name on this wall until the research has earned it. Two names are home. One family is in our hearts and our case files. The rest shine here as gold stars — until we can carve their names in full.

Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson

Recovered · Arlington 2019

2nd Lt. Fred Brewer

Recovered · Salisbury, NC 2024

2nd Lt. Samuel Leftenant

Still in our research

2 recovered·87 still missing in action

In memoriam to the Leftenant family — Samuel, Nancy, and Gordon. You're still in our hearts and research.

09 · Join the Mission

“Anybody can be a hero.”

— George Lucas

The Dakar Foundation — a 501(c)(3) performing-arts and education nonprofit — leads the Fallen 89 search-and-rescue mission in partnership with government, educational and heritage organizations. Researchers, archivists, descendants, donors, storytellers: there is a place for you in this formation.

Join the search

Share a lead

Family of a Tuskegee Airman? Your story — and your DNA reference — may be the key that brings him home.