Pliny G. Holt, Navy Captain, 99, Washington Post

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012004743.html

January 21, 2010

Pliny G. Holt Navy Captain

Pliny G. Holt, 99, a retired Navy captain who specialized in developing
aviation navigation systems during his 33-year career, died Jan. 4 [2010] at
his home in Potomac. He had cancer.

As an avionics engineer, Capt. Holt pioneered gyroscopic autopilots,
developed night-bombing navigation systems and guided-missile technology. He
held more than 20 U.S. patents for his work and was awarded the Legion of
Merit and the Navy Commendation Medal for his contributions.

After his retirement from the Bureau of Naval Weapons in 1968, Capt. Holt
worked as a consultant to IBM until the mid-1970s.

Pliny Guernsey Holt was born in Stockton, Calif., where his grandfather
pioneered a tractor tread and founded Caterpillar Tractor. He studied
engineering at Stanford University but transferred to the Boeing School of
Aeronautics in Oakland, Calif., to pursue a passion for airplanes. He
graduated in 1933 as a certified instrument and structural mechanic.

A lifelong golfer, Capt. Holt was a member of the Burning Tree Club in
Bethesda and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland.

In retirement, Capt. Holt built a live-steam locomotive that circled his
Potomac home and was known for inviting neighborhood children aboard.
Indoors, he built a miniature version of the Southern Pacific Railroad's
Oakland terminus that was featured on the covers of model-railroad
magazines. He was a life member of the Washington Ship Model Society and
tied rigging on miniature sailing ships well into his 90s.

His marriage to Elyse Law Holt ended in divorce.

He had no immediate survivors.

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Emma Brown