Early Career
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Joseph Richard Griffin and the former Maude Spicknall, he moved to Washington, D.C. as a child, where he graduated from Central High School in 1923. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1927 and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.
After initial duty in battleships and destroyers from 1927 to 1930, he underwent flight training and was designated a naval aviator in 1930. During the 1930s, he served in an air patrol squadron and as a scouting pilot aboard the heavy cruiser Chester, and studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in 1937. From 1937 to 1940, he was attached to Scouting Squadron Six aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise, then was a flight test officer at Naval Air Station Anacostia from 1940 to 1942.
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