Oliver Garfield Holton was born in Lakewood, Ohio on August 30, 1914 to Adeline Walley. Drawn to flying from childhood, he went to air shows, collected books on planes and built model airplanes. At the age of 20 he became part of a group of professional sport pilots.
At the beginning of World War II he moved to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. Trained and completed a military flight and in 1940 moved to active service in England in the “Eagle Squadron” of American volunteers. During the German Air Force’s “blitz” of Britain, he was one of the best fighters against him in defending the eastern coast of Scotland. In an air battle with a German plane called the Junkers 88, his engine was hit and he landed on a raiding landing. A week later, he managed to knock down another Junkers and then Messerschmitt 109 in an air battle over London. Three days after his victory he was wounded when his plane was shot down. He spent nine weeks in a hospital, was disqualified for combat duty, and was an aircraft examiner. In October 1941 he returned to his country, was accepted as an officer of the American Air Force and trained recruits. In 1944, he was sent to service in Africa, returned ill and recovered from a hospital in Miami, Florida. He was discharged from the army and settled in civilian aviation.
In September 1948 he volunteered to serve the young Israeli air force in his knowledge. On December 7, 1948, in the course of testing a Widgeon aircraft, he crashed into the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret); and all on board were killed. He was initially buried in Jaffa, and then reinterred in the Christian cemetery in Haifa on April 16, 1951. After his fall, he was promoted to the rank of superintendent (lieutenant).
Oliver Garfield Holton was my father!!