1963 Dee Howard 500

History

Durrell U. Howard—known all his life as “Dee”—never became a household name like William Boeing or Donald Douglas, but he was responsible for some of the best and most beautiful aircraft ever built in America. Although his formal education ended at age 15, his gifted mechanical mind took him from working on cars to airline mechanic to opening his own aircraft service shop in his home town of San Antonio, Texas. Eventually he would hold more than 30 patents, design and improve numerous airplanes, invent a practical thrust reverser, and convert a Boeing 747 for the king of Saudi Arabia.

The Howard 500

In the 1950s, though, all that was in the future. Howard worked on whatever parked in front of his small shop, but he soon saw an opportunity to create aircraft for corporate executives who needed a fast, comfortable means of traveling to places that trains and airlines didn’t serve. There were thousands of World War II airframes (and even more engines) that might serve, but the transports—C–47s and C–46s—were too big and too slow while ex-bombers, such as the A–26, were plenty fast, but had limited room and were difficult to convert into comfortable traveling machines. All of them were noisy and none of them were pressurized.

Howard preferred Lockheeds. It made perfect sense. The PV–1 Ventura and PV–2 Harpoon were fast, roomy, tough, and had exceptional range—during the war the U.S. Navy used them to raid northern Japanese islands from bases in the Aleutian Islands. They were developed from prewar Lockheed aircraft initially designed to serve small airlines or big corporations—exactly the market Howard now had in mind. His decision to acquire and convert Lockheeds essentially completed the circle. Howard had a talent for finding talent—his early employees included Ed Swearingen, Bill Lear Jr., and Bulmaro “Cisco” Alarcon—and the skilled men and women he employed in San Antonio built dozens of modified Venturas.

Finally, in 1958, their efforts culminated in the Howard 500. Despite its appearance, the 500 is not a converted Lockheed. Although it uses Lockheed outer wing panels and some other assemblies, it is an entirely different airplane, designed and built by Howard. The fuselage was built in San Antonio. Four feet longer than the Ventura, it was designed for pressurization—fuselage bulkheads are spaced every six inches. The cabin’s big enough for a small garden party or a big poker game. The low tailwheel allows entry though a vault-like door in the rear fuselage, with just a 12-inch step up—no ladders or awkward hatches. The deep belly held loads of baggage, and a loo in the back had running water. To move the airplane Howard chose DC–6 engines: Pratt and Whitney R-2800-CB16/17 radials capable of 2,500 horsepower. The result was an airplane that was smaller than the DC–3 but weighed more, had 1,000 more horsepower, and was almost twice as fast.  (AOPA Magazine – May 2019)