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Adapted from "Commander Thomas K. Mattingly II, United States Navy" [biography, dated 5 May 1972] in Modern Officer Biographies Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command Archives, Washington Navy Yard.

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Thomas Kenneth Mattingly, II

COMMANDER THOMAS K. MATTINGLY, II, UNITED STATES NAVY

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly, II, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 17, 1936, son of Thomas K. and Constance (Clarke) Mattingly.  He attended Miami (Florida) Edison High School, and Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering in 1958.  While there, he was a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit and after graduation was commissioned Ensign in the U. S. Navy, August 23, 1958.  He subsequently advanced in rank to that of Commander, to date from April 27, 1972.

Following his commissioning in 1958, he was on board the USS Galveston (CLG-3) for one month, prior to reporting in October 1958 for instruction at the Naval Air Basic Training Command, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida.  He had training with Advanced Training Unit 301, Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas, from October 1959 to April 1960, when he was designated Naval Aviator.  He then joined Attack Squadron FORTY FOUR to serve as Replacement Pilot and Assistant Navigation Officer until November 1960, when he transferred to Attack Squadron THIRTY-FIVE, deployed in the USS Saratoga (CV-60) and in that assignment flew AIH aircraft.

In January 1963 he returned to Attack Squadron FORTY-FOUR, where he had one month’s jet instrument training prior to reporting for training with Heavy Attack Squadron THREE.  In July 1963 he joined Heavy Attack Squadron ELEVEN to serve as Personnel Officer and Training Officer until April 1965.  While attached to that squadron, operation from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42), he flew the A3B aircraft.  He next was a student at the U. S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School, Shina Lake, California.  One of the nineteen astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in April 1966, he now serves at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas.  Named as one of the three-man crew of Apollo XIII he did not participate in the mission due to exposure to the measles.

He was pilot of the Apollo XVI lunar module, which with Colonel (then Lieutenant Colonel) Charles M. Duke, USAF and Captain John W. Young, USN, blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida on April 16, 1972.  Splash down was on April 27, just south of the Equator and less than a mile from recovery ship USS Ticonderoga (CV-14).  For his participation in this successful space flight he was promoted to the rank of Commander upon his return.

Commander Mattingly has the National Defense Service Medal.

He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and the U. S. Naval Institute.  He enjoys water skiing and playing handball and tennis.

Navy Officer of Information
Biographies Branch (OF-0111)
5 May 1972

[END]

Published: Fri Mar 04 12:09:46 EST 2016