History Article provided by Dave Cummings

The Howard Aero Company was established in 1947, in San Antonio Texas with Durrell Unger Howard as its sole proprietor and Ed Swearingen his first employee. Dee had previously been working on the certification process of the C-46 for one of the first all cargo airlines, Slick Airways.

There were a lot surplus military planes around Dee and Ed landed the job of maintaining a converted Douglas A-26 bomber for the Reynolds Oil Company. At this point in history there were few aircraft that filled the purpose of being solely for use as executive class aircraft, one example was the Beechcraft Model 18.

One day Howard heard the rumble of an A-26 outside. It belonged to a wealthy Mexican man who had told his pilots to go up there and find out where they could get some dual flight controls like the Reynolds plane had. Dee said he knew where to get the parts and they agreed on a price and that the work would take two weeks to install them. While working on the plane, Dee told Ed, "look at the bomb bay of this plane someone is liable to fall right out of it". The plane had a poorly designed stair and the bomb bay was not secured or modified per the standard passenger conversion. Concerned for the safety of those who would ride on this plane Dee went ahead and did the modifications necessary to make the plane safe and in stellar fashion. The Mexican pilots showed up and were pleased with the work, but right away noticed the modifications to rest of the plane, they promptly said, "We’re not going to pay for this extra work,’ Dee replied "Just wait a minute, I was worried your boss might just fall right out of this thing, there is no charge for the work." About a week later he again heard an A-26 rattling away outside. Out stepped a well dressed Mexican man and his two pilots, he wanted to meet ‘an honest Gringo, he had never actually met one’. This was the beginning of a great friendship and you know one good turn deserves another. The Mexican was wanted a plane that could fly nonstop from Mexico to New York and provide ample cabin space so that he could actually walk around on such a long trip.

Dee got right to work on it and determined that the only plane that would be adequate would be the Lockheed PV-1 or B-34 Ventura bomber. Lockheed also made a Loadstar L-18 but no way would it have the speed or range to do the job. Most of the military conversions just did not have the cabin space for passengers. The Ventura though had potential and he told the Mexican about it. He was quite enthused after hearing what Dee had to say and said, "So why don’t you do it?" Dee replied, "You’re talking about a lot of money somewhere near 2 to 3 million dollars to get a program like that certified and get a good flying plane out of it". He told Dee he would agree to a joint venture with him and was willing to invest three million dollars. That was the story of how Dee got into the airplane manufacturing business.

A few years passed and at this point Dee had made quite a name for himself in the corporate aircraft world. If your company needed a fast long-range executive plane then Howard Aero was the first place to look. Dee was able to produce a respectable number of the 250 and 350 conversions. Dee however, was still looking to have the first transcontinental executive plane available. At this point he knew well what his 350’s lacked and thought he could build a better mouse trap to make this type plane do what he needed. After all he was smart enough to stick with what he, his engineers, and mechanics knew best and that was the basic Lockheed design.

A newer version of the R2800 was being used on the DC-6 aircraft and Dee thought it would be very well suited to the 500. The P&W R2800/CB-17 engine rated at 2500 hp with two stage supercharger and water injected ADI was a perfect choice for the plane. Light weight, at 2390 lbs it put out more hp/lb than most other engines on the market. It was the newest thing out there, having been developed in 1954 -‘56 and readily available in 1957 it was produced until 1967.

Dee bought about 30 something PV-1 aircraft from the Canadian and South African Air Forces in order to get the parts he needed to get the 500 in the air as soon as he could. From these planes he would take most of the accessories, engine mounts, tail wheel assemblies, wheels, hydraulic systems and various other small parts. He was faced with building jigs for both the wings and fuselage, but had bought originals from Lockheed in Burbank to use as patterns. While the jigs were being built, improvements on the design of the 350 were being done. The wing needed to be redesigned because the PV-1 wing just ran out of lift and speed at about 20,000ft. The new plane would also need huge wet fuel cells built into it to give the high end CB’s the endurance necessary.

The biggest improvement would be that of a remarkable pressurization system, one that would allow complete cabin comfort at 20,000 ft and beyond. The heart of the system would be based on the Garret Air Research engine driven compressor that the early Convair 580 and P-3 Orion aircraft were using. Howard was certainly a believer of the, "lets not reinvent the wheel" philosophy. This way he could get the job done fast and inexpensively. He was like the Japanese with their reverse engineering. He took what was being used successfully and made it better. He was able to pump his new fuselage up to an incredible 7 to 1 differential. This meant at 20,000 ft you could easily have a cabin of less than 2000 ft.

As Dee sat across the street at his favorite lunch place Jims Café with Ed Swearingen, he thought up ideas and drew them out on napkins. He said, "were going to have to accommodate this new engine and get a handle on the weight and balance for the plane, we need a bigger lever". He promptly went back to the office and asked his top engineer how much of an extension the Howard 350 would need to be stretched to give it what he was looking for. He estimated that 4 ft would do it, so 4 ft it was, now the new plane would be 4ft longer. To prove it, with the least expense of time and money he took one of his PV1’s and cut it in two. The modified conversion flew weeks later and proved to be a whole new plane. They were very pleased with the performance changes.

The new 500 would incorporate dramatic changes that most believed to be simple conversions to the then PV-1. This is however not true. The most important fact about the Howard 500 is that it is a new aircraft, carefully designed by Dee and his staff. Those that say that it is a conversion know very little about what they are saying or what Howard did. While it is true that the 500 is somewhat of a "highbred" in that it used many parts from other planes. Again this kept cost down and saved time. For example, the propellers are Constellation blades and the spider or hub comes from an F4U Corsair, a # 60 spline 4 bladed propeller. The Landing gear, straight off a PV-2 (the PV-1 gear was just to light for the increased wt of the 500) but with some huge mods such as how it attaches to the airframe.

Concerning the airframe, how could it be that one could simply put glue on an existing PV-1 structure and get it approved as a pressurized plane certified under the then CAR 4B (transport category) certification? That is not only absurd but impossible. You must design around the fact that you are going to pressurize the aircraft. The 500 has a fuselage former every 6 inches. The PV-1 has them about every 20 inches or more much like a DC-3. The designs were indeed similar and one lead to the other, many parts from the PV-1 interchange, but not without some modification. Dee modified almost every part that came from the Ventura. As a pilot/mechanic for 8 years on this particular aircraft and nearly 1500 hours in it as captain I can tell you that there are very few, if any parts that are a direct interchange. I have had to learn the hard way what mods to make on the parts I repair or exchange. It is definitely an on going learning process to be certain. I can see his point of view, or the evolution of each piece as I mess with them or repair them. We all tend to come up with ideas on how to improve a product when we use it for any given length of time. That is exactly what he did with the Model 350 as it lent itself to the design changes found in the 500.

By late 1958 Howard had finalized the design of the 500. Certifying it was another thing as the now defunct CAA gave way to the ever changing FAA. This dynamic institution was trying to figure out how to harness the huge leaps and bounds in aviation that the world had witnessed due to the advancements that WWII and the Korean wars’ provided.

The construction of the Howard 500, proceeded with out too many changes in the airframe design, but went through many system, electrical, and hydraulic alterations. It seemed like, as the FAA transport category certification requirements changed, so did the plane and it was tough to keep up with the two. Some of the design features that were required to meet the FAA requirements included; a rudder boost and elevator boost system to aid the pilot in holding the plane controllable during single engine demos. They deemed that 180lbs of pressure was just a tad too much for the average pilot. Next the plane needed a yaw limiting system and compressor disconnect in the event the left engine were to fail. An elaborate AC electrical system provided everything from heated windshields to hot food in the galley. The brakes and gear system are both backed up with nitrogen systems. There are quite a few ways to get the gear down in the 500 and it is one of the fastest deploying gear I have ever seen, in fact you really need to be extra careful when performing a static gear swing as the momentum of the huge gear and wheels will sweep the plane right off the jacks. But in flight it sure is a comforting feeling to see the gear there every time and in record fashion.

The first flight of the Howard 500 took place about may of 1960 and as recounted by Dee Howard, "When we stepped out of the plane I told ‘Rusty’ (Elton Rust his test pilot) ‘I think I might need to go see the doctor, my face is hurting something fierce’, Rusty replied, " Do you think it has anything to do with that huge smile you’ve had plastered from ear to ear since we pushed the throttles forward and raised the gear?", "All I could do was laugh some more" responded Howard.

According to "Cisco" (Bulmaro Alarcon) Dee’s shop and field supervisor from 1955 to 1992, Howard built nearly 60 conversions of the 250 and 350 combined. The 500 was built from 1958 to 1963 and only 16 were produced. Cisco was there for the entire Super Ventura and 500 programs.

From 1960 to 1963 the planes were in more or less a limited limbo as they awaited the final retrofits of what the FAA would require for the CAR4B certification. Eventually most of the planes got the certification but at great expense to the Howard Aero Company. The advent of the turbine planes and small jets proved to be too much in the timing game and drove the Howard Aero Corp into near bankruptcy. In late 1963 Dee realized that the future was in these new turbine powered planes, but lacked the capital to invest in it. He agreed to sell half of Howard Aero to an outside investor. He eventually lost voting control of the company and the new owners let it slip away. Dee always says, "I didn’t like the deal, but when you’re going over the falls you’ll hold your hand out to an alligator".

Not for long though, as Dee was ever the creator, he and Bill Lear became terrific friends and Dee helped Bill with his Lear jet project immensely. He was able to come up with a new wing design to help with the in-flight stability problems of the early Learjet .In fact, he built the first mockup of the Lear. He also invented the thrust reversers that are still in use today. He reopened the doors on his new company The Dee Howard Corporation just months later, again he built a name for himself in the conversion of large jet aircraft for which he became world renowned. The company was eventually sold to Al Italia in 1990 and to Singapore Technologies in the past year. The thrust reversing division was bought by Nordam Inc of, Tulsa, OK. The bright orange hangars are still there today on the south side of the field in San Antonio.

Our 500 is currently the only one that is airworthy in the USA. Serial number 105, or number 5, has had a few owners starting with Chicago Gas and Pipeline in the early 60’s then they sold it to Southwest Forest Industries in the late 60’s. Chicago Gas and Pipeline bought a saber liner jet then they actually bought this plane back because the executives liked the roomy cabin and realized that it really didn’t take that much longer to get to their destinations. They paid more for it than they originally bought it for. A new Howard 500 off the assembly line had a price tag of $565,000. The plane went to Florida and Tennessee in the mid 70’s and was supposedly owned by an Elvis Pressley entity for a short period. In the late 70’s it was sold to a directional drilling company from California that only flew it once for the owner and then parked it in the desert of Nevada. This is where we found it, having sat for quite a while and only flown for about 15 hours in 10 yrs it needed a lot of attention. We blew the right engine on take off out of cal city airport and took it to Van Nuys on our first flight with it. I went to Everette field in Washington and picked up a Precision Airmotive engine and brought it back to Van Nuys in a u-haul. I put it on and flew it to it’s new home in Portland, OR. The owner was in love with the plane and wasn’t about to spare any expense on it restoration. Bruce Stevenson, of Portland put his trust in me to do the best job I could with the plane. We started taking it apart bit by bit, fixing the parts, looking each over as we did, learning just what we were dealing with along the way.

I met Cisco Alarcon right away as I had him come up and help me learn as much as I could about the plane. Having maintained and flown Dehaviland Beavers, DC-3’s, Beech 18’s, and DC-6’s I was able to understand most of the systems from the start, I also had two degrees in aviation which included 727, of all things the Swearingen Metro III ground schools. I was very excited about getting the plane back in flying order so we worked around the clock on the plane and had a lot of 16 hour days. About 2 yrs later, we pretty much had it ironed out and began flying the plane. A few months later our beloved boss Bruce passed away from a heart attack at the age of 52. Our stable of planes, including a second Howard 500 serial number 9, our DC-3 and Beech 18 were promptly sold. I insisted the Howards be sold together as one supported the other. They went to the state of Minnesota and have since been together. They are currently owned by Phillippi Equipment Company of Eagan, MN. The plane is flown regularly, as Tony Phillippi the owner has quite a history of owning planes and is very knowledgeable about what it takes to fly and maintain a plane of this type. What he doesn’t know he at least attempts to learn and expresses a genuine interest in. Most of that comes from being involved from an early age in an industry of heavy equipment and construction which primarily consist of dealing with large cranes and such.

On the side of our plane there’s a little nose art depicting just what I described to you. We are right behind a jet trying to fit in, but having a little trouble slowing, so Donald Duck is helping to direct traffic. The depiction is twofold, one being the speed thing the other has historical significance. The early Lockheeds that were in the military commonly had nose art depicting Disney characters. So we wanted to find something that fit into the best of both worlds. From my perspective it makes perfect sense.

It is tough to stop 30,000+ lbs with nothing but brakes, especially when you’re the guy that’s going to change them. I am extremely protective of the brakes since they are very rare, just tough to get a hold of. They are from a Constellation L1649 and it seems as though most of them have been snatched up to supply the few operating Connies with their cache. We get the leftovers from what they don’t have stocked or have not located. I spend a lot of time trying to find the Goodyear brake pucks that we need. Our plane flies every few days not just air shows, our boss thinks he bought a King Air and it goes out all the time.

On short final the copilot calls out speeds, and altitudes, monitors the corrections needed for the approach left, right, up and so on. We figure the final speed according to our weight, in general about 105 over the fence. With a nice stable approach of about 800 ft/min going we having to leave enough power to keep the tail flying , if you cut the power your dead, the tail will quit flying and your going to be polishing your teeth on the runway, so the power stays in. As soon as the mains touch, preferably with in 500ft of the numbers, the copilot wipes out the power, opens the cowls and leaves the flaps down as it helps in aerodynamic braking once the tail is lowered. We always wheel land a plane of this weight. In the event you make an error it is easier to go around and mostly if you drop it you won’t snap the tail wheel off, there is just too much weight for that little tailwheel, something would have to give. You have to be patient as the plane rolls out so that the speed dissipates and you can transition to brakes. While on the mains you test the brakes to be sure they are equal in application and go ahead and get on them for a couple seconds then off to allowing cooling, then back on near the end again. At large airports of the international type I never even use the brakes on the runway. This is accounting is just at fields of less than 5000 ft.

Maybe we don’t have the most glamorous uniforms and all, but we work hard to keep this piece of aviation history flying daily and do our best to fit in at Millionaire or Signature. Don’t be afraid to stop by and say hello when we show up on your ramp.