He graduated from Gettysburg College in 1963, and studied physics under Philip J. Bray at Brown University, receiving a Ph.D in 1968.
After fellowships at University of Sheffield and University of Chicago, he became a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1971. Turned down for tenure, he went to work at the Teletype Corporation in 1979 doing R&D related to custom semiconductor chip manufacture. After several years, Teletype's activities gradually shut down (1985-1986), as the parent company AT&T divested various of its operations.
Baugher then switched to computer programming for the Naperville division of Bell Laboratories (having developed a taste for computer work), and worked on phone switches for several years, retiring in 2001. As of 2003, he teaches part-time at the Illinois Institute of Art, and continues to write.
Baugher's articles on US aircraft are masterful works with a wealth of detail on all aspects, from the initial design phases to the ultimate fate of the built aircraft.