Two icons from aviation's Golden Age, and one question: Which is better? Strap into a Beech D17 Staggerwing and a Howard DGA-15 with us for a good, old-fashioned fly-off.
Being based in Fresno, I had a lot of opportunities to see this plane, and talk with Pat. “Queenie”, really is a nice looking, sounding airplane, and I am lucky to have some pics and videos of her. I remember hearing Pat passed. It was very sad.
This one showed up in my feed. I miss Pat. He was one of my best friends. I was his instructor for his instrument rating, which he did in Queenie. Damn good man, and a damn good pilot. I think about him a lot.
I was friends with Pat & he is missed. He was always willing to assist anyone. He offered to help me replace a cylinder on our Howard at a fly in. The mechanic & I had it handled but, he was always there. About these two airplanes. Each has its strong & weak points. I love the room in the Howard along with the ease of fueling. Because of the landing gear design being more taken from a racer than thoroughly thought out, I'd prefer a true air over oleo like most modern airplanes. The large side area in a strong crosswind is 'challenging' in a Howard but, with the fuel capacity, it's easy to find a more suitable airport because of the fuel quantity/range. The howard is much roomier in both the front & rear seats, The Staggering is a bit more tender but plenty strong in its own right. I like them both but prefer the somewhat slower fixed gear Howard. There is nothing like flying behind the world's best recip engine over the mountains!
Sorry to hear about Pat... I made my first 6 or seven skydives out of a Howard... Lake Elsinore CA, Jan 1976. They had three at the time; used mostly for static line students.
Great fun. BTW, if you'd included a sustained turn contest and a gliding contest, your DGA would have lost two more rounds. Short field landing. I don't know what kind of brakes the 17 had. Clevelands or original multi disks, and 900 feet is pretty long for getting a 17 stopped, unless your field was 6K + DA. Saw some commenter wanted a Spartan in the mix. Only flew 2 Spartans and don't have much time in the type, but they were, comparatively speaking, sick dogs on TO and disappointingly slow, considering they're retracts and monoplanes and all.
I love these airplanes. I was a little impatient to get the airplanes; it was 3 minutes into a 7 minute vid before the focus was off the pilots and onto the planes. Please.
What a waste of a beautiful Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing, would have been better if he'd drove his Chevy Tahoe into an overpass support like Aubrey McClendon did if he wanted to end it so bad.
