Ken Shaffer – Air Force Pilot
Ken Shaffer seemed an unlikely candidate for Air Force pilot training.
Shaffer, the day he headed for the Air Force Officer Training School In February 1982
A lanky six-foot-two, the business major appeared to be better suited for the corporate world when he graduated in 1981 from Illinois Wesleyan University. An internship with General Electric Company convinced the Waynesvillle native that the Air Force offered more fulfilling options.
“The Air Force needed navigators. I thought at the time, it’s just for four years,” said Shaffer, now retired after more than two decades in the military and 22 years as a pilot with United Parcel Service.
The handful of years he planned to serve help assuage concerns of family members.
“For the most part, all my family were farmers. I saw flying as a natural progression (from farming). After you learn the physics of flight, it’s just another machine,” said Shaffer.
In February 1982, six months before his marriage to Chris, a graduate of Wesleyan’s nursing program, Shaffer joined the Air Force and attended officer training school. He went on to complete Strategic Air Command Combat Crew Training in June 1983 on the KC-135 Stratotanker, a core resource for the aerial refueling of military aircraft.
As a navigator assigned to the 97th Air Refueling Squadron based in Blytheville, Arkansas, Shaffer participated in the April 1986 bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon. That same year, he and Chris welcomed the birth of their son David, and he was accepted into the pilot training program.
The path to the cockpit took a short detour during an Air Force physical. Shaffer’s sitting height exceeded military requirements. A second opinion from a doctor who advised Shaffer to “just relax and don’t sit up really tall” determined the candidate to be a half-inch under the requirement.
Ken Shaffer and wife Chris
Shaffer’s fondness for flying traces back to airplane rides he took with his uncle on his birthday. “My interest in aviation began there,” he said.
Assignments followed at Castle Air Base in California before he was deployed as a co-pilot for Central Command at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, shortly after upgrading to Aircraft Commander of a KC135R tanker, Shaffer was deployed to bases in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Mont-de-Marsan, France to fly air refueling missions for coalition aircraft.
Shaffer after his first jet aircraft solo flight in the Northrop T-38 Talon
After Desert Storm, Shaffer became Instructor Aircraft Commander for CENTCOM EC-135 N/Y. As trip coordinator with diplomatic clearance, Shaffer flew General Norman Schwarzkopf and other high-ranking officers to their destinations.
Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho was home for the Shaffers for six months in 1992-1993 as he served with the 22nd Air Refueling Squadron, his final assignment in active duty with the Air Force.
The decision to retire from active duty still stirs an emotional response. After being on “active duty” for more than 12 years, Shaffer needed to turn his attention to his wife and third grader. A decision was made to settle down closer to home and have a more stable family life.
When asked if his son was interested in aviation or the military, Shaffer said his son told him, “Dad, don’t take this personally but….” The retired aviator turned to his wife to finish the sentence, the words catching in his throat. “He said he wanted to be home more for his family and not gone for long periods of time,” said Chris.
Shaffer’s military commitment did not end with his retirement. Nine years as a reservist with the 74th Air Refueling Squadron at Grissom Air Force Base in southern Indiana included service with NATO’s Combined Air Operations Center during “Operation Decisive Endeavor” as part of an international peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
On September 11, 2001, duty called again. Like most Americans, Shaffer has specific memories of the morning the U.S. was attacked.
“I was driving, on my way to Fort Wayne, for a physical. Chris was watching TV and called with the news.” Images of a second plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York were on the screen at the doctor’s office. Later that afternoon, Shaffer’s unit was activated.
“It was really eerie because all the traffic control was shut down. We were the only ones in the air,” Shaffer said of the refueling operations.
Ken Shaffer flanked by Master Sargent Scott Ward and Major Brian Stopher
Several days later, Shaffer was deployed as part of allied forces involved in “Noble Eagle” and “Enduring Freedom” in the Middle East. The air refueling operations included “fighter drags,” a maneuver that allows the air tankers to refuel other planes for the long flights across the Atlantic Ocean.
Shaffer logged 5,500 hours as a command pilot and an additional 20,000 hours with UPS before his retirement in 2020.
Shaffer’s collection of military and civilian aviation memorabilia made the retired pilot a popular speaker in his daughter-in-law’s elementary school classroom. He also brightened the lives of young students at Schwenskville, Pennsylvania during Desert Storm. His reply to one student brought letters from every youngster in the class. The handwritten notes wishing him well are still part of Shaffer’s collection.
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