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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
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