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ìWhatís Stopping You?î
By Di Freeze
OCTOBER 2003
Early in his 50-year history in aviation, Durrell U. Howard, better
known as Dee Howard, came up with a clever advertising slogan: ìIf you
donít have Dee Howard Thrust Reversers, whatís stopping you?î
Internationally recognized for his development and certification of
aircraft safety and performance improvements, such as jet engine thrust
reversers, itís obvious that not much has ìstoppedî Howard, who has
patents for many inventions and has worked with or mentored some of the
most well known names in aviation.
In recent years, Howard has been recognized for his accomplishments in
several different ways. In November 2000, he was inducted into the Texas
Aviation Hall of Fame, of which he currently serves as a member of the
board of directors.
In March 2002, he received the prestigious Charles Taylor Master
Mechanicís Award from the Federal Aviation Administration, for more than
50 years of dedicated service. In September 2002, at the National
Business Aircraft Association Convention in Orlando,
Fla., the Nordam Company acknowledged
Howard and Etienne Fage for their advancement of jet engine thrust
reverser design. They did so by announcing the Nordam Dee Howard/Etienne
Fage Scholarship Award, which will be given annually to Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University,
of Daytona Beach, Fla.
ìEtienne Fage was one of the original supersonic Concorde development
engineers,î explained Howard. ìWe had a joint venture on the fan jet
engine thrust reversers. When I sold the Dee Howard Company, Nordam
bought the Dee Howard Thrust Reverser Division. They were so pleased with
the advanced technology that they endowed Embry-Riddle with the
scholarship.î
While at the convention, the president of Embry-Riddle asked Howard to
speak at the university.
ìI told him Iíd be glad to do it, but that I was a seventh grade drop
out,î said Howard. ìHe said, ëThat doesnít make any difference. Your
developments in aviation are interesting enough.íî
In November 2002, Howard arrived at the university as the guest
speaker of their Legends in Aviation and Aero Space Distinguished Speaker
Series.
ìI was treated royally,î Howard said. ìNo one at the college seemed to
think anything about my lack of formal education. They were aware of
other people who, instead of a formal education, had gotten an education
in their work. I started from the beginning, telling them how it started,
and about the most interesting development programs.î
Howard was born in Los Angeles on May 26, 1920, to a father from
Buffalo, N.Y., and a mother from San Antonio, Texas. It wasnít long
before the family moved to the Lone Star State.
ìI probably wasnít more than a year old. Thereís an old saying that
Texas girls always bring who theyíve married back to Texas,î he says with
a laugh.
Howardís father was very capable of doing whatever needed to be done,
including becoming a well-respected auctioneer. However, Mr. Howard would
die before he turned 50, after having a massive stroke. After his
fatherís stroke, young Howard had to drop out of school to go to work.
Howard remembers the hard times that came with the Stock Market Crash
in 1929.
ìI was old enough to remember people jumping out of the buildings when
they lost everything in the stock market,î he said. ìAs a little kid, I
thought, ëWell, thatís crazy, just because they donít have any money.í We
didnít have any money, but we were not about to jump out the window
because of it.î
He also remembers the up-and-down times in his own family, and jokes that
the family moved every time ìthe rent came due.î
ìThat isnít entirely true,î he laughs, ìbut we had a lot of upsets
when I was growing up. I went to 10 schools to get through the seventh
grade.î
Of his father, he says he was ìa good Christian person with good
principles,î who gave him a lot of excellent advice.
ìHe said, ëSon, thereís one thing you donít want to do; the worst
thing you can do is kid yourself,íî said Howard. ìOne time, when I was 11
years old, I saw him doing what he said not to do, and said, ëThis is not
good. Heís kidding himself.í He wound up without a job because of it:
ëDonít kid yourselfí made a lasting impression.î
Throughout his years in research and development, Howard lived by that
principle.
ìIíve worked with a lot of people who fooled themselves into
believing, as the saying goes, ëWhen you are hard pressed for an answer,
any answer will do.í I never fell prey to that,î he said.
Howard might not have been born in Texas, but having grown up in San
Antonio, he is ìproudî to think of himself as a Texan. He remembers
working during the early recovery years of the Great Depression, in the
automobile and trucking industry, and doing different jobs to earn money.
Most of the temporary jobs came and went quickly.
ìYou were expendable,î he said. ìYou worked in a body shop some place,
where they needed a little extra help. A week later, they didnít have any
work, and you were gone. I worked in machine shops; I drove wreckers.î
Howard remembers that his father was a good mechanic.
ìWe grew up around that type of an environment, so taking to the tools
was an easy thing for me to do,î he said.
Howard remembers that when he was a teenager the WPA was rebuilding
the old terminal at Stinson Field, where he hung out. Stinson Field is
now the oldest continuous operating airport in the United States.
ìIíd wash and polish airplanes and do all kinds of things for a ride,î
he said. ìThatís where I wanted to be.î
But, when he began seeking employment, a job in aviation wasnít easy
to find. Finally, Howard was able to get on with Braniff Airlines as a
baggage handler in San Antonio.
ìAt that time, my father was very ill, but they were able to travel,î
he said. ìBefore the war started, they thought theyíd go back to
California, where they thought things would be better.î
True love struck when Howard was still a teenager. At 18, he married
16-year-old Georgiana.
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Dee Howardís
museum, at his office just west of San Antonio International Airport,
displays past Howard accomplishments, as well as some of his vast art
collection.
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ìIn order to do more for my parents, we moved to California,î he said.
ìI worked for an Oldsmobile dealer in Glendale, and then finally got on
with Western Airlines as a junior mechanic. I burned the midnight oil
studying, took the FAA examination, and received an aircraft and engine
mechanics license.î
When, the war started, Howard decided to take his wife and baby home
to Texas.
ìI was sure that I would be going into the service,î he explained.
ìHowever, when I returned to San Antonio, I was able to go back to work
for Braniff, as a mechanic this time. When I went down to sign up for
military duty, they asked, ëWhat do you do?í I told them I was an airline
mechanic. They said, ëYou go back. We know where you are. Weíll get you
when we want you.í Eventually, I was drafted and put into the Air Force
Enlisted Reserve, and sent back to Braniff for the duration of the war,
because there was a shortage of airline mechanics.î
During the war, Howard worked two shifts a dayóone for Braniff and one
working for himself on private airplanes. The two shifts meant that he
sometimes didnít get much sleep. He also performed maintenance on
aircraft, trading work for flying lessons. After the war, he continued
flight training to get his twin-engine and other ratings. He loved test
flying the private aircraft he worked on, when allowed to do so.
Howard found that working for the airlines was a long, slow climb to
the top. With the war over in 1946, at the age of 26, he saw his chance
to move up the ladder when he joined the newly formed Slick Airways. One
of the first post-war all cargo airlines, Slick Airways had 10 new
surplus C-46 cargo airplanes, which were public-use military airplanes
that needed FAA certification.
ìI went to work as a mechanic, and wound up in charge of airframe
overhaul and modification,î he said.
Howard greatly enjoyed working with the engineers to certify the
airplanes.
ìI took to engineering like a duck to water,î he said. ìI was doing
what I enjoyed doing most. Bill Lear used to say that I had a natural
intuitive feel about how things should be done.î
That, however, is for later in his history. After the aircraft had
been certified, the new cargo airlineís only business was New York to Los
Angeles, round trip, so the company relocated to Burbank, Calif. Howard
decided to stay in San Antonio and start his own business.
ìI had saved up a little money, so I built a small building on the
ramp, and started Howard Aero, at San Antonio International Airport,î he
said.
His first employee was Ed Swearingen, who would later go on to live
his own success story. Founded in 1947, Howard Aero, Inc. was very successful.
But there is a little more to the story than that.
Stationed at the airport was a medium bomber, a Douglas A-26 that had
formally been owned and sponsored by industrialist (pen maker) Milton
Reynolds, and flown by William P. Odon, who twice broke Howard Hughesí
prewar round-the-world speed record. A San Antonio oil company, who used
it for personal transportation, owned the ìReynolds Bombshell.î
ìWe were maintaining that airplane,î Howard said. ìAt Kelly Field,
they had aircraft surplus parts sales. We bought a whole A-26 fuselage
for spare parts for my customer. It didnít cost but about seven hundred
dollars, and in it was a set of dual controls. What we didnít know at the
time was that the A-26s that went into combat had only one set of controls,
in the left side, for the pilot; the only way the nose gunner could get
into the nose was by not having any controls in the right side. The
aircraft used for pilot training had dual controls. So, whenever those
airplanes were used for executive transportation, there was a great
demand for the dual controls.î
As the story continues, in Mexico City lived a wealthy businessman and
aviation aficionado who loved airplanes and had two A-26s. One day, the
pilot of one of the aircraft taxied in and said they knew the ìReynolds
Bombshellî was hangared there, and they had hoped to find out where to
get dual controls. Howard said he happened to know where they could get
some, and they agreed on an installed price and two weeks to complete the
work.
When the A-26 aircraft were used for carrying passengers, they would
bolt the bomb bay doors safely closed so they couldnít be opened, Howard
said.
ìThe cabin entrance door that hinged down from the floor of the cabin had
steps on it,î he said. ìThe passengers would enter the airplane using the
steps on the door. Once in the airplane with the door closed, the steps
would fold flat, allowing the passengers to move around on top of the
door. On this aircraft the door was poorly designed, and dangerous.
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Betty
and Dee Howard pose with Elton Rust, president of Million Air San
Antonio, in front of a Howard 500 that recently visited the FBO. Rust,
a test pilot for Howard, flew as pilot on the flight of the initial
Howard 500, with Howard serving as copilot.
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ìI told Ed, ëSomeone is liable to fall out of this airplane.í So, just
out of concern for the ownerís safety, we totally rebuilt it, with all
new latches and hinges to make it work right. When the pilots came to get
the airplane, they said, ëWeíre not going to pay for this.í I said, ëWait
a minute. I was afraid your boss was going to fall out of the airplane.
There is no charge for the work.í A week or two later, I heard the drone
of an A-26 taxiing up, and out comes the wealthy business owner. He
wanted to meet ëan honest gringo.í He had never met one.î
Out of the favor came a great friendship and the desire for an
airplane that the wealthy businessman could stand up and walk around in,
which would fly at 300 mph, and make nonstop trips, such as Mexico City
to New York.
The Super Ventura
ìWe looked around and the only airplane that really fit that bill was the
Lockheed (PV1) Ventura bomber,î he said. ìThe Lockheed Lodestar was a
passenger-carrying airplane. Lockheed made a medium bomber out of it, for
Great Britain, as a sub hunter. When the war started, they didnít go to
Great Britain. They used them elsewhere. They had a large passenger
cabin; the baggage compartment under the bottom was where the bomb bays
were.
ìIt was the only medium bomber that had any room for passengers. When
you converted it back to a passenger-carrying aircraft, you had a roomy
cabin designed originally for passengers. I told him about it and said it
was the only airplane that looked like it had the potential. He said,
ëWhy donít you do it?í I said, ëYouíre talking about two or three million
dollars to get a program like that engineered and do everything you would
have to do to get an FAA certification, and make a good flying airplane
out of it!íî
The businessman told Howard that he would do a joint venture with him,
and was willing to put in three million dollars.
ìIt didnít seem to bother him any,î said Howard. ìI said, ëDo you want
me to have my lawyers...í He said, ëNo. I donít trust lawyers. I trust
you.íî
And, thatís how Howard got started in the airplane manufacturing
business by doing somebody an unexpected favor.
Beginning in the early fifties, the manufacturing division of Howard
Aero built over 100 Super Venturas. It was a busy and tough time for the
rapidly growing company, which had a major crisis when the financial
backer of the Super Ventura program was killed in an aircraft accident.
ìWe hadnít begun production on the Super Ventura when he had his
untimely accident in another type of aircraft,î explained Howard. ìThat
left us holding the bag for the funds that we were not going to receive.
We were able to talk a bonding company in New York in to giving us
performance bonds, so we could receive progress payments from our
clients. We went through tough times, but everybody that bought an
airplane got one, and we never missed payroll.î
The Howard Super Ventura set the pace for high-performance executive
aircraft. The Howard 250, 350 and 500 models followed. The Super Ventura
and Howard 500 were produced on an assembly line in the same manner that
new aircraft are manufactured. The Howard 500 was FAA certified as an all
new, pressurized aircraft.
The popular Howard-produced aircraft were considered the ìclass actî
for modified post war, high-performance business aircraft. More than 200
of the various models of the Lockheed aircraft were produced and flew
with an enviable safety record; not any of the Howard aircraft were ever
involved in a passenger fatality. And, the company gained a strong and
loyal customer base, which helped in the hard times.
ìThey liked and trusted us,î Howard said. ìThe fact that we did it the
way things ought to be done kept us going. We became an industry leader
in the heavy aircraft interior business.î
Howard became involved with a project that would lead to many others.
He became acquainted with Bill Lear through Ed Swearingen, who, at one
time or another, worked for both Howard and Lear.
ìBill Lear moved to Geneva, Switzerland, with the idea he was going to
build the first executive jet business aircraft,î Howard said.
In Switzerland, when he decided it would be built in the United
States, Lear would call Howard and ask, ìDee, where am I going to build
this airplane?î
ìI said, ëWell Bill, I think youíre going to build it in Wichita,íî
Howard said. ìWell, he had a real reaction to that, because he was a new
kid on the block trying to get into the airplane building business. He
didnít want to be where all the guys who were already building airplanes
were. He didnít want to be looked down on.î
In the early sixties, Lear came to San Antonio to have Howard build
the mock up of the first Lear Jet for him, with the probability of
building the aircraft in San Antonio.
ìBill found out that the San Antonio banks didnít understand
aviation,î Howard said. ìThe Lear Jet was the pioneering effort that
established the feasibility of business-operated jet aircraft. Bill moved
his operations to Wichita, Kansas, in 1962, where the banks were eager to
do business, because it was airplane country.î
On Oct. 7, 1963, the first Lear Jet prototype took off. And, with
great respect for each otherís accomplishments, Howard and Lear became
good friends. Howardís personal Lear Jet was in the jet fly over at
Learís funeral in Reno, Nev., in 1978.
With the business aircraft market turning to turban-powered aircraft,
it became clear to Howard that his future would be, in some manner, associated
with jet-powered aircraft. Hoping to secure the future, he accepted an
offer to sell half of the Howard Aero Company to a financial backer. In
the deal, all of the investorís funds would go into the company and
Howard would loose voting control until certain milestones were achieved.
ìI didnít like the deal, but when you are going over the falls, you
will hold your hand out to an alligator,î Howard said.
It didnít take long for Howard to find out that losing control of his
company was a bad mistake. At the end of the first year, on Friday the
thirteenth, September 1963, he was minus the company he founded, and
ìrode off into the sunset.î Two years later, the new owners took the
company into bankruptcy.
The Dee Howard Company
Down but not out, Howard started The Dee Howard Company in 1964, which
soon became the industry leader in engineering and production of
improvements for the emerging business and commercial jet aircraft
market.
ìI had picked myself up by the bootstraps,î Howard said.
The company was responsible for a number of inventions and
supplemental type certificates. When the new business jets were first
introduced, thrust reversers were not available for the CJ610 GE Jet
Engine that was used in the Lear Jets and Jet Commander aircraft that, instead
of a thrust reverser, used a drag chute for emergency stopping. That
wasnít, however, a very practical idea.
Although some might think that when hard pressed for an answer, any
answer will do, Howard chuckles over an even worse scenario.
ìSometimes a bad answer is more acceptable than no answer,î he says.
Howard decided to do something about the problem. He developed and
produced the thrust reverser for the GE CJ-610 jet engine, highly
successful from a function and reliability standpoint, which launched The
Dee Howard Company into the thrust reverser business.
With the introduction of the fan-jet engines for business aviation,
Howard entered into a joint venture with a French company that had developed
a fan jet engine thrust reverser that was not ready for production. The
engineer who was responsible for developing the French thrust reverser
was Fage who, with Howard, worked as a team to develop additional
technology that advanced fan-jet thrust reverse technology, over
competitive reversers produced by others.
The highly successful new concept fan-jet thrust reversers produced by
The Dee Howard Company soon became standard equipment on a number of new
business jet aircraft produced in the United States and internationally.
The Dee Howard thrust reversers are still produced for new production
fan-jet aircraft by the Nordam Company.
Dee Howard and James Raisbeck
The Lear Jet Mark II flight characteristic improvement, a noteworthy
project developed jointly by Howard and James Raisbeck, improved the
low-speed Learjet flight characteristics and short runway performance.
The Learjet factory adopted the highly successful technology on new
production aircraft.
Howard became acquainted with Raisbeck when he was working on the Mark
II development for the Learjet at the factory, and Howard was building
thrust reversers for Gates Learjet.
ìJim wasnít making the progress that was expected. What he was doing
to the Learjet to make it stall slower would also help it to perform
better,î he explained. ìWe wanted him to be successful. Finally, I made a
deal with Harry Combs to bring the test airplane and Jim to San Antonio
to finish the program. We just wanted to help Jim complete the terms of
his agreement with them. We did it and Jim and I worked together and
became great friends.
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Dee
Howard, in front of a few of the cars in his classic car collection.
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ìIt worked and we got them going in a record short time. It wasnít but
a matter of a few months or so that we had things like they wanted. That
was a very successful programóand it was very profitable. Then, Jim went
up to Seattle. Of course, heís done extremely well since then.î
The Dee Howard EX (Extended Range) Learjet Project
The Dee Howard EX (Extended Range) Learjet Project was accomplished
when Howard decided to do an extensive in-flight, air-dynamic drag study
to advance the speed and range capabilities of the Lear Jet aircraft.
Howard achieved his goal by extensive in-flight air-dynamic drag studies
that were more effective than the Lear Jet wind tunnel test conducted by
others.
ìThe extended range mod on the Learjet was quite a deal,î he said. ìWe
made a 23 percent improvement in the drag reduction on the airplane and
the performance. The fan engines had just come in, and they were used on
the Lear 35, but Learjet was still producing one made with the GE CJ610
and straight jet engines.
ìWe made a deal with them that the current production Learjet would
come from Wichita to San Antonio, where the extensive Howard XR
modification was made, and then it would go to Tucson for completion.
Their G Model Learjet was the Howard Extended Range Mod.î
The highly successful modification also advanced the XR Lear Jet
performance by achieving extended range at mach .80, at a time when only
the most efficient new swept-wing aircraft were able to achieve maximum
range at such high speed.
Other significant projects
Significant projects included the extensive engineering and
modification on a number of Boeing 747 aircraft for head-of-state
customers. Howardís first work of this type was engineering and modifying
a Boeing 707 for Chiang Kai-shek.
ìThat was when he was being ousted from the U.N.,î said Howard. ìIt
wasnít as deluxe as the later ones.î
The hallmark accomplishment of this activity was a Boeing 747-300 for
King Fahad of Saudi Arabia, which, according to Boeing Aircraft, was the
largest, most extensively engineered and modified head-of-state aircraft
ever accomplished. The aircraft still holds this record and is still in
service in the royal fleet of Saudi Arabia.
ìThat airplane had a lift system,î said Howard. ìThe king rides up the
lift system into the aircraft, and the lift system retracts into the
airplane when not in use. It has an elevator going up three floors to
King Fahadís suite.î
In the ceiling of each room of the aircraft, says Howard, is a Mecca
indicator.
ìWhenever they pray, they want to face toward Mecca,î Howard
explained. ìWhen the airplane turns, the pointer turns, and they know
wherever they are around the world, thatís the way to Mecca.î
Selling of The Dee Howard Company
Over the years, the Dee Howard Company had up to as many as 1,200 to
1,500 employees. In 1989, Howard sold his company to Italyís Alenia
Aerospace Group, which later sold the thrust reverser business to the
Nordam Company.
Dee Howard Aircraft Maintenance L.P. was formed in the summer of 1998,
after a private investment company, Code, Hennessy & Simmons,
acquired The Dee Howard Co.ís aircraft maintenance operations from
Alenia. These days, Dee Howard Aircraft Maintenance continues a
longstanding relationship with UPS, and counts Northwest Airlines,
Hawaiian Airlines, America West, Boeing and Bax Global airplanes among
their customers.
An awarding life
Howard believes that his life has been endowed with a lot of wonderful
things that happened because he ìdid something goodî for one person or
another. Among those wonderful things are several acknowledgements.
He has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards for
achievement. In 1966, Howard received the FAA Aircraft Mechanics Safety
Award, given for development of devices to improve aircraft safety. In
1988, he received the Queenís Award from Great Britain for Technological
Achievement for his contribution to the development of the Rolls Royce
Tay Jet Aircraft Engine. He received the meritorious Service Award from
NBAA for a lifetime of contributions to the advancement of aviation, in
1993, and the 1996 Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award in San Antonio,
presented by Ernst and Young.
Today
A few years ago, Howard founded River City Products, after feeling a
compelling need to improve highway safety by making heavy, over-the-road
vehicles directionally stable and less fatiguing to drive.
Howard discovered the primary reason for the lack of heavy vehicle
directional stability that has been overlooked by the heavy vehicle design
community. He has developed new technology that is destined to
dramatically reduce heavy vehicle driving fatigue and improve highway
safety.
Howard has his own museum, at his office just west of the airport,
where exhibits of past Howard accomplishments are displayed, as well as
some of his vast art collection, including one of the largest
representation of artwork by Douglas Ettridge as well as work by Mel
Brown and others.
A member of The Society of Automotive Engineers, he is also an avid
classic car collector and consistent winner of classic car judging
competitions for more than 30 years.
And, Howard, who says he is living proof that if you have luck,
ìanything will do for brains,î has definitely been lucky in love as well.
Howard and his wife Georgie had a blissful marriage that produced a
daughter, Deanne, who served as Howardís secretary for a number of years,
and a son, Lonnie, who is presently retired.
ìWe just had a wonderful marriage; we were perfect together,î said
Howard. ìMy sweet little wife of 61 years passed away about three years
ago and I thought I would never marry again.î
But Howard, now 82, was in for a pleasant surprise.
ìI started going to dinner with someone that I was introduced to, and,
in a short time, we got married,î he said. ìItís going on two years. She
is just amazing.î
Betty, 62, says Howard, has operated her own modeling school, sold
real estate and ìhas a dedicated family.î
ìIím just so happy,î he said. ìShe is just a doll, and as beautiful as
she can be. I would have never believed that in one lifetime I could have
been so lucky.î
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