Darnaby Henton Wilhoit was born at Woodford Memorial Hospital on the 22nd of December 1922. Don as he became known to his friends, was the second child of Hiram and Jessie Henton Wilhoit. His mother died a year after his birth. Hiram was a cashier for the Woodford Bank & Trust Company in Versailles and later became State Banking Commissioner. Hiram married Alma Heimiller Craig Feb 22nd 1929. alma had one son William. William was 25 years old when his mother remarried. Don's stepmother Alma was 46 years old when she married his father. Don was six at the time, he asked her what he was supposed to call her? Alma told him he could call her anything he wanted to. Don asked her if he could call her "Mama" and she said yes and that is what he always called her. She was the only mother Don ever knew. Alma loved him as though he were her own and he loved her. Don became one of the most popular young men in Versailles. A friend remembers "he hated the name Darnaby and was always known as Don. Darnaby was a family name and the name of an aunt who died in Paris, France, in 1921. I don't know why he chose the airforce but I always knew he would make a "hot" pilot having ridden in an automobile with him."
Don's father Hiram became Kentucky State Banking Commissioner under Governor A.B. Chandler in 1937 and was in office through 1945 when he retired.
Don entered Maropet Hall School September 1929 – 1st grade. Don entered Versailles Elementary School September 1930. entered Bolles Military School at Jacksonville, Fla. September 1936. he attended Bolles for three years. Entered Versailles high school in September 1939, and graduated June 1940 and entered the University of Kentucky in the September. Whilst at University he joined the R.O.J.C – Company C, Third Regiment of the National Society of Pershing Rifles.
Don enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 15th 1942. Inducted at Cincinnati February 24th 1943 he went :-
1. to Miami Beach, Florida for basic training.
2. to North Carolina State College at Raleigh for study.
3. to Nashville, Tennessee for classification – classified as a pilot for air corp.
4. to Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama.
5. to Americus, Georgia for his first flying lessons.
6. to Greenwood, Mississippi for intensive flying training.
7. to Datham, Alabama, Napier Field where he received his wings.
8. to Tallahassee, Florida, flying training.
9. to Mount Myers, Florida, for advanced flying and target practice.
Finally, after a short visit home Don left Winchester, Kentucky by train for Tallahassee, to prepare to be sent overseas. On March 4th 1945 he left Taunton, Massachusetts aboard the boat "West Point" bound for Europe. They landed near Liverpool on the 14th of March.
Don was sent to Debden Field, Cambridge and the 336th fighter Squadron. He completed two combat missions over Germany before the war ended, and after the V.E. Day he piloted an aircraft in the great flypast over London.
On the 29th May 1945 At the USAAF fighter station at Debden, Essex, twelve P-51D Mustangs of the 336th Fighter Squadron with less than 100 hours flying time were selected to be flown to Speke where they would be crated and sent to the US and then to the war in the Pacific. 1/Lt. Harold H Fredericks and Flight Officer Darnaby H Wilhoit were two of the pilots who volunteered to fly the aircraft to Speke. 1/Lt. Fredericks was to be leader of the flight of twelve aircraft flying No 44-72181. By 10:00 hours all twelve aircraft were airborne and in formation heading for the North West Coast, a distance of 160 miles. Near Leicester they encountered thick cloud and 1/Lt. Fredericks instructed the flight to climb to 6,000 feet. They were then no longer in sight of the ground and 1/Lt. Fredericks, as the only pilot with a radio, tried to raise Speke but was unsuccessful.
After 55 minutes had passed 1/Lt.Fredericks estimated that they should be over Speke and with ice forming on the aircraft wings opted for a decent through the clouds, his last instructions were to look for any aerodromes. 1/Lt. Beacham Brooker, who was 1/Lt. Fredericks No. 3, recalled the events that followed. "As we were letting down through the overcast Fredericks plane suddenly disintegrated in front of me and a ball of fire flung my plane to one side. Immediately I pulled up out of the soup and found that my aircraft was difficult to handle. Looking out at my port wing I saw the reason why, two feet had been ripped away."
1/Lt. Brooker had hit the ground with his port wing, after keeping the aircraft in the air and landing back at Debden he climbed out of the cockpit shaken, never to fly an aircraft again. 1/Lt. Fredericks had crashed into the moors at Catleshaw, North of Oldham. Most of the other aircraft who had gone down through the cloud carried on and found Speke in poor visibility, some opted for climbing back up into the clouds and looking for another opening, others became separated and turned back to Debden. Flight Officer Darnaby H Wilhoit, flying in 44-64084, was to be the second victim that day, when he attempted to gain sight of the ground whilst still over the hills and, under power, he flew into Plainsteads Farm south of Glossop in the High Peak. Both Pilots were originally interred at Cambridge but after the war were repatriated to Kentucky...