Howard Aircraft Corporation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howard Aircraft Logo

Howard Aircraft Corporation was a small USA aircraft maunfacturer in the 30's and 40's. The factory was initially on the south side of Chicago Midway airport; during World War II a second plant was opened at Dupage County airport west of Chicago.

[edit] History

The success of Mister Mulligan led to the formation of the Howard Aircraft Corporation on January 1, 1937, to produce commercial versions of the now-famous DGA cabin monoplanes, each custom-built by Benny Howard and Gordon Israel.

One of the airplanes produced by the company was the DGA-11, powered by a nine-cylinder 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radial engine, was purportedly the fastest four-seat civil aircraft of the late 1930s, able to achieve a top speed of about 200 miles per hour. A favorite of the high society and Hollywood circles, the DGA-11 cost about $16,500 in 1938 —- a princely sum for the time. A slower and less costly version, the DGA-12, used a 300-horsepower Jacobs engine.

Production of the Howard Aircraft Corporation from 1936 to 1939 totaled about 30 aircraft. In 1940, Howard developed the DGA-15, building about 40 of the four/five-place aircraft, powered by one of three different engines. The founder, Benny Howard, left the company at this time to join Douglas Aircraft Company as test pilot.

The onset of World War II signaled the end of the civil Howard aircraft line. The U.S. Navy procured about 525 modified DGA-15s for use as the GH-2 Nightingale air ambulance, the GH-1 and GH-3 utility transport, and the NH-1 instrument trainer aircraft. Exceptionally roomy and high-powered, the modified DGA-15 was also difficult to land and quite unforgiving—earning the unwanted nickname of “Ensign Eliminator.” The U.S. Army Air Corps also acquired a variety of prewar Howard aircraft as utility aircraft.

Howard also produced a two-seat open-cockpit trainer DGA-18 (also referred to as DGA-125), and later a license-built version of the Fairchild PT-23.

After producing several of the most famous racing aircraft of the Golden Age of Aviation, the Howard Aircraft Corporation ceased production in 1944. Stockholders elected not to produce civilian aircraft after the war, sold the aviation assets, and used the proceeds to buy an electric-motor manufacturing company in Racine, Wisconsin, and named it Howard Industries.