Dr. Worthe Holt never even thought about being inducted into the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame.
“It was really quite a surprise,” said Holt, who was inducted Sept. 21 as the member of Class of 2024 in a ceremony at the 502 East Event Centre in Carmel. “I got a call and I was told someone had submitted my name for the honor and told me about some of the other inductors. I was thrilled to be considered. Quite frankly, it’s a distinguished club. I don’t feel like I deserve it. I certainly don’t deserve to be named alongside people like Wilbur Wright. I learned about how many extraordinary individuals from Indiana have contributed to aviation over the years.”
Holt, 67, originally from North Carolina, moved to Indianapolis when he was young and graduated from North Central High School. He has lived in Fishers for 38 years.
Holt retired as a major general after 36 years in the Air Force in 2017 and then retired from his full-time job in health care. He still does an occasional emergency care shift for Francisican Health.
“My last job I had was with the United States Africa command, which is what we call a major command,” Holt said. “I had some oversight command for all the services, including Coast Guard, Marines, Navy, Army and various agencies. I worked with the State Department a lot. That was a really fascinating experience. My anchor has always been in the Air Force as a fighter pilot.”
Holt became a physician and graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He had the title of flight surgeon.
“A flight surgeon is a physician that specializes in aviation medicine and aviation physiology. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a surgeon that cuts,” Holt said. “I’m actually a family physician by trade. A flight surgeon has training in recognizing problems and addressing conditions related to (flying).”
Holt said his life revolved around aviation and health care.
“They are sort of parallel careers, but I found a way to intertwine them and I just felt fortunate to do all the things I had to do,” he said. “At various times, they were full time at one or another and at other points they were combined. It allowed me to do some unique things in aviation and medicine.”
Holt said one thing that made his career unique was participating in development of the pilot physician program in the Air Force for a small number of officers who had both pilot wings and aerospace physician wings.
In addition, Holt participated in the development of the Medical Officer Training Corps.
Holt served as combat pilot in the First Gulf War in 1991 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I was always ready to go where I was tasked to go,” he said.
Holt said those two combat participations likely were factors in his induction.
“I served for 36 years, but it was truly a joy,” Holt said. “I know not everyone has that experience, but for me I would not trade a day of it. Being able to fly as many hours as I did in the F-4 Phantom and F-16 as I did was remarkable. Seeing some of the things I did around the world was fabulous. Then being able to use my health care skills as well.”
