Holt, Ray oral history
Ray Holt was an unlikely candidate to develop a microprocessor chip set for the US Navy’s new F-14 variable-wing fighter jet. He was a lackluster student, fully committed to a starting a career as a professional baseball player after High School. Career counselors advised him not to go into engineering because he exhibited low mechanical aptitude, so he majored in forestry at the University of Idaho. With these unlikely beginnings, Holt ended up with a BSEE degree from Cal Poly in Pomona, California and then joined Garrett AiResearch, where his first assignment was to the team tasked with designing the world’s first digital electronic flight computer, the CADC (Central Air Data Computer), for the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat fighter. The CADC was a microprocessor chip set, the first of its kind. Most people have never heard of it because it was classified for 30 years.
Item Details
- Date
- 2023-05-26 (Made)
- Type
- Document
- Catalogue number
- 102792868
- Organization
- Computer History Museum (Publisher)
- People
- Ray Holt (Interviewee)
Steve Leibson (Interviewer) - Category
- Transcript
- Format
- Credit line
- Computer History Museum
- Extent
- 26 p.
- Language
- English
- Acquisition number
- 2023.0092
- Archive collection
- CHM Oral History Collection
- Archive hierarchy
- Oral History collection