Howard 500

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=Howard 500


caption=
type=Executive aircraft
national origin=United States
manufacturer=Howard Aero
designer=Dee Howard and Ed Swearingen
first flight=September avyear|1959
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number built=17
variants with their own articles=The Howard 500 was an executive transport aircraft produced in the United States in the early 1960s. During the 1950s and 60s, Howard Aero had been remanufacturing military surplus Lockheed Lodestars and Lockheed Venturas for the executive market, but while the Howard 500 bore a strong resemblance to these aircraft, it was a substantially new design, and all 500s had completely new airframes. The only major components taken directly from its Lockheed forebears were the outer wing panels (from surplus Venturas) and undercarriage (from Harpoons). Howard purchased wing and fuselage jigs from Lockheed to use as patterns for jigs for the new aircraft. The fuselage differed from the Ventura's in being designed from the outset for pressurisation, and the wings were designed wet. The engine chosen was a new, higher-power and lighter-weight version of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 that had been developed for the Douglas DC-6. Propeller hubs were taken from F4U Corsairs, propeller blades from DC-7s or Lockheed Constellations, and spinners from DC-7s.

The prototype flew in September 1959, and certification was achieved in February 1963. By this time, however, the executive market was already dominated by turboprop aircraft, and although its performance was comparable to (or even better than) these new machines, and its price substantially lower, the Howard 500 could not effectively penetrate the market.

Of the 17 examples built, one beautifully restored aircraft remains flying in 2008 (construction number 500-105, registration "N500HP") with the Phillippi Equipment Company. This machine was awarded Grand Champion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 1997.

An important historical footnote: Dee Howard is not related to Benny Howard, racing pilot and aircraft designer of the DGA series of two decades earlier.

pecifications (variant)

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crew=One-two pilots
capacity=14 passengers
length m=17.82
length ft=60
length in=6
span m=21.44
span ft=72
span in=4
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height m=4.27
height ft=14
height in=0
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empty weight kg=10,910
empty weight lb=24,000
gross weight kg=15,710
gross weight lb=34,565
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eng1 number=2
eng1 type=Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB17
eng1 kw= 1,870
eng1 hp= 2,500
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max speed kmh=560
max speed mph=350
max speed mach=
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=325
range km=4,110
range miles=2,570
endurance h=
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ceiling m=
ceiling ft=25,000
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References

*
* [http://howard500.com/ N500HP homepage]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.zoeller/H500.htm Howard 500 on Lockheed Twins Site]
* [http://www.flightsimonline.com/howard500/ The Howard 500 Project] - Development of Howard 500 model for "Microsoft Flight Simulator", with extensive detail, photographs, and movies of real aircraft.