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Craig Eugene Mahaffy

No. 19704 18 December 1928 - 28 September 2004

 

Died in Nashville, TN

 

Ashes scattered over favorite Tennessee fishing lake

Craig Eugene Mahaffy was born in Iowa City, IA, on 18 Dec 1928 to Leslie Eugene and Madolin Mahaffy. He graduated from Iowa City High School, enlisted in the Army and attended the Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA, where he qualified as a parachutist. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, NC, but he then received a Senatorial appointment to West Point and attended the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School at Stewart Field near Newburgh, NY, from August 1949 until he entered the Academy in the summer of 1950. At West Point, Craig was assigned to Company F-2 for four years. His classmates described him in the 1954 Howitzer Yearbook: “Though he was seldom one to “put out” on academics, the books never drew much worry. He was good in athletics, one of the best in the class, but he saved it for the company and intramurals. He waited for weekends but enjoyed his stay as much as anyone.” 

Craig met Dorothy Morris on a blind date during plebe year on St. Patrick’s Day. They dated for the remainder of his cadet years and married on 9 Jun 1954, just after graduation and his commissioning in the Air Force.

Craig went to flight school at Spence AFB in Moultrie, GA, and then to  advanced training at Webb AFB in Big Spring, TX, where he flew the T-33. He received the one coveted fighter pilot slot allotted to his training class and went on to Toul Rosiere AFB in France. There he flew the F-86 and F-100 with the 417th Fighter Bomber Squadron under the command of Chuck Yeager. He next was assigned to the 28th Bomber Wing at Ellsworth AFB, SD, where he flew the B-52. During 1960–64, he was in the 49th Bomber Squadron at Shephard AFB, TX, commanding a B-52 crew. While there, he was part of the crew selected to conduct testing of the hydrogen bomb. He also served as part of one of the first test crews to help NASA design a space capsule.  

Next, he was off to the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, to earn a master’s degree in Space Physics. In 1966, he was in Taiwan flying C-130s in support of the Viet Nam War. He returned to the States for six months, only to return to Da Nang, Republic of Viet Nam, to fly fighter missions over North Viet Nam in the F-4 Phantom. Two hundred combat missions resulted in his returning well decorated, including the Distinguished Flying Cross.

His modest nature never allowed him a moment of talking about any of the heroics or hardships we know he endured. He was just serving his country. After Viet Nam, he and his family moved to Torrance, CA, and the Space and Missile Systems Organization in El Segundo during 1969–73. Here he was head of many projects, including the Titan Missile that his family was privileged to view at a launch from Vandenberg, AFB, CA. His final assignment was to Arnold Engineering and Development Center, Arnold AFB, TN, during 1973–77. Craig retired as a colonel in 1977 to Tullahoma, TN. 

Craig’s wife Dorothy, the “love of his life,” is an accomplished piano teacher and had a large number of students to keep her quite busy during Craig’s retirement. Before he retired, Craig had numerous hobbies, to include scuba diving, photography, model airplane building/flying, fishing, camping and  waterskiing with his family. Craig lived retirement life “to the fullest” with his other hobbies, including distance bicycle riding; farming, to include raising cattle on a 40-acre property; skeet shooting; and on-line competitive rowing clubs. He achieved a degree in Agriculture, was considered a computer guru, and was taking graduate courses in computers. Craig passed away on 28 Sep 2004 from an undiagnosed heart condition. His wife, four children and 10 grandchildren truly miss him.

Craig’s proudest legacy was his family. He and Dorothy had two sons and two daughters. The oldest, son John, is a University of Tennessee - Knoxville graduate who works as a building contractor and part-time musician. He and his wife Cheryl have one son, Ian. His daughter, Dorothy “Dee,” attended the Air Force Academy in the first class that included women, along with several other of his classmates’ daughters, graduating in 1980. She is married to MG Robert Steel, now Commandant of the National War College at Ft. McNair in Washington, DC, 2007–2008. They have six children, including Robert, Jr.; twins James and Jonathan; Christopher; and twins Paul and Michelle. Sons James, Jon and Chris are graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy in classes 2006, 2007, and 2008 who are now in F-16 Fighter training, undergraduate pilot training, and Medical School at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD,  respectively. Craig’s and Dorothy’s third child, Sharon, is a University of South Florida graduate who worked as a paralegal and now raises sheep with computer programmer husband Eugene Hill. They have two children, Dana and Russell, and live in Kingston, GA. Youngest son, Craig, Jr., works in the nursing profession in Eugene, OR, and has one son, Jude.

 - His family and classmates

 

Originally published in TAPS, January/February 2009

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