Ira Tilton Holt

Preferred Name: Ira
Nickname/Call Sign: IT
Date of Birth: November 6, 1930
Highest Military Grade: 0-5 – Lieutenant Colonel
Hometown: Hamilton, MT
Headed West Date: October 30, 2019
Ira T. Holt - before

“Being a fighter pilot is one of the best things I ever did in my life.” I’ve experienced some interesting things along the way: On Nov 8, 1952  I was involved in mid-air collision – bailed out after losing a wing.

Other items of note:

I may have been the only 52-F Class member to get 100 missions in Korea
June 1953 – I flew 5 missions on 15th, 4 on 16th, and 1 early on 17th – then weather.
In 1955 – I dead-sticked an F-84F after losing all oil!
Also in 1955 – I took off in an F-84F with an Mk7 shape, a 450 gal tank, two 230 gal tanks, and JATO – my computed takeoff roll was over 10,000 ft.
In 1959 -I landed an F-100A “gear up” – short between throttle and stick.
In the 1960’s – I landed F100C with nose wheel up and locked.

In my civilian life, I was a parachute design engineer, worked on nuclear weapons chutes, and on the recovery system of the Space Shuttle Boosters.