Monday, January 21, 2013
Howard 500
The Mighty Howard 500 was a conversion from a Lockheed twin that makes a ramp presence like very few airplanes today. If you were to see a Howard 500 on a ramp full of Challengers, Gulfstreams and Falcons... which do you think YOU would be drawn to? Watch the video above and tell me you wouldn't skip the others and walk around the Howard! Thanks to collector Toni Phillippi in Minnesota there are now two preserved Howard 500's in flying condition. I first saw the Howard 500 at Oshkosh and walked by it several times a day for the week that I was there. The powerful twin just draws you in. If I were assembling a dream fleet of airplanes for my personal collection, A Howard 500 would be my traveling machine! The video above shows that Mr. Phillippi flies his Howard's all over the country and even went to great lengths to return one from Europe to the United States.
For more on Mr. Phillippi's aircraft visit his web site - http://www.tpaero.com/
For more on Lockheed's Twins - http://www.burbanksbest.com/
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8 comments:
Elegant footage of elegant airplanes, Dan! For some additional "fill" material, you might enjoy a post about the 500 from Ross Sharp's (sadly inactive) blog, HERE.
Frank
I had the pleasure of flying the D Howard Ventura for several years
for the Standard Oil Company of
Indiana. It was fast, powerful,and
easy to fly. It could almost stay with
Douglas A26.
Ron H.
Ron, bet that was a hot rod. Happen to have any photos of the Howard and A26 from Standard? I am collecting photos and ads for the post war conversion aircraft to include in another blog post.
Dan
My Uncle was the FAA test pilot/flight analyst for the Howard 500 in 1960. It is a great aircraft!
Sue
I've actually flown ( right seat) the green and checkerboard yellow one.. And chartered it one other time to take ten guys to Whitefish Montana for a meeting ( fishing). I love that airplane..
While we were getting ready to depart MSP ( pilot had repositioned it there from another local airport for departure due to the fuel pax load and need for at least a 5k ft. runway to get us launched) I was regaling the non flyers in our group with some history while we were waiting for he pilots to get her started started... You know, the usual stuff..like there only 16 of these built and this is the only one remaining... Not thinking what this was sounding like to the 8 pax who had cashed in their tickets on on an airbus to "go in style".... Well about the same time I said that, the pilot was having some difficulty getting the "hot engines" to start... A bit disconcerted by the sound of backfires and the missed opportunities to keep the right engine running, one of the nervous passengers asked, with no small alarm, what had happened to the "other fifteen"?
"Oh", I deadpanned, "... They are scattered somewhere in the hills between here and Whitefish Montana" ( couldn't help myself).
This bird has a first class "head" which came out of Larry Flynt's Gulfstream. Capable of seating one, in comfort, for a great distance.
Although, the motion back in the tail with no functioning auto pilot would make the seat dual purpose for sure!
In my avionics career at Houston's Hobby Airport, I spent many pleasant hours servicing a Super Ventura owned by Transcontinental gas Pipeline. If memory serves, there were two or three there in those days, and a number of Howard 250's and just plain old Lodestars. Really love those round motors.
Bob B. formerly of Houston, now retired to Sedona AZ.
Excited to see memories shared about these cool aircraft! Thanks for posting comments.
Dan
Dan, my memory banks have been working overtime, thinking about all those grand old aircraft in the Houston area. A company flying out of Andrau Airpark hangared a fine Lodestar, N30G, there. The crew, pilot Ivis, copilot/mechanic Art lived for the sole purpose of flying the owner from Houston to his ranch on weekends, and had for many years. On one such flight, Art was working the radios and conversing with a controller who seem very young and apparently in training. This young man queried Art: "Lodestar N30G, that's a really old aircraft isn't it?" Not missing a beat, Art replied"Yeah and you oughta see the crew."
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