HOWARD 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 aircraft designs in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Among the best known of the early Howard designs were the Pete, Mike, Ike and, later, the DGA-6, Mr. Mulligan. The Ike was a relatively small airplane with a 20-foot wingspan and only 17 feet, 2 1/2 inches long. Power for the 1,100-pound airplane was provided by a 200hp Menasco 480ci, C-6-S Buccaneer turbo-charged engine which gave the Ike a top speed of 241.6 mph.
THE MODEL
This Ike is a 1/7.5-scale park flier that’s true to scale in outline, and is of the typical “stick and tissue”-style construction. The wing is built in an egg-crate fashion to simplify and speed up the build and to ensure a straight structure. The wingtip and tail section outlines are bowed from lightweight and strong laminated balsa.
Power is provided by an Avionics Breeze out-runner motor with a 2-cell LiPo pack. This setup makes the model fast enough to. It includes laser cut balsa and plywood parts and vacuum-formed plastic wheel pants.
