The story
Benny Howard's company was formed to build cabin planes based on Mister Mulligan, a four-seat racer that won the Bendix and Thompson Trophies in 1935. The DGA-15 of 1939 kept the family's wooden high wing and steel-tube fuselage but went deeper and wider to seat five. The Navy liked it so much it ordered hundreds as GH transports, GH-2 Nightingale air ambulances and NH-1 instrument trainers, and most of the roughly 520 finished by 1944 went to the Navy. With 151 gallons in three belly tanks it can stay up for more than seven hours.
Mister Mulligan, the racer the Howard line grew from, won both the Bendix and the Thompson Trophies in 1935, the only time one aircraft took both races in the same year.
Quick answers
How do you identify a DGA-15?
A big, deep-bellied cabin monoplane: high wing braced by a pair of struts each side, a fat round radial cowling and fixed tailwheel gear, usually with large wheel fairings. The cabin is taller and the fuselage deeper than a Stinson Reliant or Fairchild 24, and the wing has no gull kink at the root. Jobmaster conversions add extra windows, and some fly on floats.
What does a DGA-15 sound like?
The bass rumble of a 450 hp Wasp Junior radial.
How fast is the DGA-15?
Top speed is 175 kts (201 mph) (DGA-15P).
How many passengers does the DGA-15 carry?
Up to 4. A typical layout is Five seats in a deep enclosed cabin.
How far can the DGA-15 fly?
Range is about 800 nmi (DGA-15P).
How big is the DGA-15?
It is 25 ft 0 in (DGA-15P) long and 38 ft 0 in (DGA-15P) across the wings.
When did the DGA-15 first fly?
Its first flight was in 1939.
How many DGA-15s have been built?
About 520 built.
How rare is a DGA-15 in Bogey?
COMMON. Everyday traffic. You will catch plenty of these, and every first catch still counts. Your first DGA-15 catch is worth 25 points.
