Holt Ashley (January 10, 1923 – May 9, 2006) was an American aeronautical engineer notable for his seminal research on aeroelasticity.
On the outbreak of World War II he would take leave from the California Institute of Technology and join the Army Air Corps.
[4][5] Following completion of an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago for meteorology he would fly as a weather forecaster and reconnaissance officer with squadrons in the Atlantic and Europe.
[4][5] In this time he would earn 6 military medals and publish his paper “Icing in North West Europe.” [4][5] Ashley attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1948 and later a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1951, also in aeronautical engineering.
[2][4][5] He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1970 "for contributions to the field of aerolastic structures and unsteady aerodynamics, aiding in the solutions of problems in vibration and gust loading".