HOWARD DGA-5 “IKE”

In the early years of air racing Benny Howard was among the more active and successful names in the sport. Howard was responsible for several very successful designs in the late ’20s and early ’30s. Among the best known of the early Howard designs were the Pete, Mike, Ike, and later, the DGA-6, Mr. Mulligan.

THE MODEL

The Ike is a 1/7.5-scale park flier and features a compact 30-inch wingspan. The design is true scale outline, and is of typical stick and tissue construction. The wing uses egg-crate construction to speed and simplify the build while insuring a good straight structure. And to keep the strength up and the weight down, the wingtips and tail sections are bowed from laminated balsa.

Power is provided by an Avionics Breeze Outrunner motor and a 2S battery pack providing adequate power. For those who like to fly fast, several 3-cell options are available for low cost brushless power system choices.

BUILDING THE IKE

I like to begin by making the bowed outlines for the wingtips, rudder and horizontal stabilizer so