Howard DGA-15 - WikiHQ

thumb|A highly-modified, experimental DGA-15 equipped with an Alvis Leonides engine

The Howard DGA-15 is a single-engine civil aircraft produced in the United States by the Howard Aircraft Corporation from 1939 to 1944. After the United States' entry into World War II, it was built in large numbers for the United States Navy and also served various roles in the United States Army Air Forces.

Design and development

The Howard Aircraft Company (later Howard Aircraft Corporation) was formed in 1936 to build commercial derivatives of the Howard DGA-6 (named Mister Mulligan), a successful four-seat racing aircraft which had won both the Bendix and the Thompson Trophies in 1935, the only aircraft ever to win both races. These successes did indeed bring the DGA series much attention, and Howard produced a series of closely related models differing mainly in the engine type, consisting of the DGA-7, -8, -9, -11 and -12. Offering high performance and being comprehensively equipped, despite a high purchase price (with the DGA-11 selling for $17,865), these became coveted aircraft owned by corporations, wealthy individuals, and movie stars, such as Wallace Beery, who was himself a pilot. (In the movie Bugsy, Warren Beatty, playing the title role, is flown from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in a red Howard DGA-15.)

In 1939, the Howard Aircraft Corporation produced a new development of the basic design, the DGA-15. Like its predecessors, the DGA-15 was a single-engined high-winged monoplane with a wooden wing and a steel-tube-truss fuselage, but it was distinguished by a deeper and wider fuselage, allowing five people to be seated in comfort. It was available in several versions, differing in the engine fitted. The DGA-15P was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior radial engine, while the DGA-15J used a Jacobs L6MB and the DGA-15W a Wright R-760-E2 Whirlwind. and the large cabin proved popular with sky-divers as low-capital-outlay, low-operating-cost jumping platforms.

With most of the working Howard DGAs retired from active commercial service, they have become popular as restoration subjects and as alternatives to more modern equivalents with higher cost of ownership. Almost 100 of the Howard variants are still flying, mostly DGA-15s. A few of the DGA-11s also still fly, including one out of Santa Paula, California, which is probably the world headquarters for Howards, with at least five flying out of that field.

Superb travelling airplanes with much better visibility, headroom, and shoulder room than some contemporary cabin aircraft, they have very long "legs" with a fuel capacity of 151 gallons in 3 belly-mounted tanks, giving an endurance of more than 7 hours, for a range, at normal cruise (130 kn, 150 mph), of over 1,000 statute miles. With modern avionics, the Howard can compete in many respects with many contemporary light aircraft, due to its combination of room, comfort, speed, range and carrying capacity. A DGA-15P competed in the 1971 London (England) to Victoria (British Columbia, Canada) air race.

Variants

right|thumb|Howard DGA-15P

thumb|right|A GH-2 Nightingale

;DGA-15J

:Variant fitted with a Jacobs L6MB radial engine (330 hp, 246 kW)

;DGA-15P

:Variant fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine (450 hp, 336 kW)

;DGA-15W

:Variant fitted with a Wright Whirlwind J6-7 radial engine (350 hp, 261 kW)

Military designations

;GH-1

:Communications and liaison version of the DGA-15P built for the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, 29 built new and four civil aircraft impressed.

;GH-2 Nightingale

:Ambulance version for the US Navy, 131 built.

;GH-3

:A variant of the GH-1 with equipment changes, 115 built.

thumb|Howard NH-1 modified to civilian DGA-15P standards and equipped with Jobmaster float conversion

;NH-1

:Instrument training variant for the United States Navy, 205 built.

;UC-70

:Ten civil DGA-15Ps impressed into service by the United States Army Air Forces and one aircraft leased.

;UC-70B

:Four civil DGA-15Js impressed into service by the United States Army Air Forces.

Specifications (DGA-15P)

thumb|upright=1.3|Howard DGA-15 3-view

Notes

References

Bushell, Sue J. "Some Damn Good Airplanes". Air Enthusiast, Thirty-two, December 1986-April 1987. Bromley, UK:Pilot Press. pp. 32–44.

External links

Howard DGA-15 cockpit
Howard DGA-15P Flight on YouTube
List of Howard DGA aircraft with some pdf brochures
Aerofiles catalog of Howard aircraft