Dee Howard DBA - 'The Big One'

[The Artist]

I'm re-posting this in a new thread to give this design a more proper identification and to have the thread ready when additional information (and hopefully the drawing) can be made available. I've done a few searches here on Dee Howard and haven't come up with anything. Should there be an existing thread under a different name, then this one can be deleted. Otherwise, if little fragments on this one are in other threads, here is where to move them.

The name or designation on the drawing was simply "The Big One" and if I remember correctly, the drawing was for construction of the wind tunnel model. I wonder if this picture is of that model.

I remember working out from the scale given that the fuselage was about 45 foot wide and even with the internal structure there would be enough room to handle the 33 foot diameter Saturn stages. The DC-7 parts were clear to see in the drawing though I remember seeing another image that suggested using a C-97 forward fuselage for the cockpit section.

 

[The Artist]

Here is a low-res copy of the drawing. The original is owned by a retired Vought employee and Mark Nankivil arranged to make a large format scan of it during our trip to Dallas last summer. Mark told me to go ahead and post this copy here.

A correction to my first post. The owner of the drawing told us about the C-97 cockpit option.

 

[royabulgaf]

You mean this was a real idea? I always figured some guy used some spares box parts to customise his mail box.

 

[VictorXL188]

In answer to this may i refer you to the excellent site devoted to the Aerospacelines Guppy family, of which this is one of the more outlandish members; http://www.allaboutguppys.com/

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

http://www.deehoward.org/the-dee-howard-legacy/dee-howard-history

The design is known as the 'Howard DBA' and an RC model was built and shown in RCM magazine. Apparently a Guppy proposal for NASA for Saturn V transport.

That's the Howard DBA, from the Dee Howard Aircraft Co. It was never built for reasons I can't recall...Someone did model the design a while back, and was published in RCM.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?255740-NASA-Designed-Airplane

Here is a design that is seldom mentioned the Howard DBA. The photos come from low speed wind tunnel at Vought. The photo sleeve has Howard Aero written on it
and typical of the LSWT photo sleeves does not reveal a model or make for the design. Nor is there a date for the project. It also appears that the test report and the negatives are separated.

This was a design from Howard Aero of San Antonio Texas the same fine folks that created the Howard 500 version of Lockheed's Ventura bomber to meet NASA's need for rocket component transportation.

The aircraft features 10 engines and two sets of wings along the bulbous fuselage. It also appears to have large clam-shell doors on the front below the cockpit area. A model and the LSWT report are on display at USTA.

http://scanbits.blogspot.co.nz/2016/08/howard-aero-heavy-transport.html

 

[ZacYates]

You mean this was a real idea? I always figured some guy used some spares box parts to customise his mail box.

Amen. I cannot see this working! Even if you replaced the engines with jets it just doesn't seem workable. Then again, I'm no aerodynamicist.

 

[Avimimus]

On the contrary, the thing that bothers me the most is I suspect it could work (assuming sufficient structural strength).

 

[Tonton-42]

Here is a low-res copy of the drawing. The original is owned by a retired Vought employee and Mark Nankivil arranged to make a large format scan of it during our trip to Dallas last summer. Mark told me to go ahead and post this copy here.

A correction to my first post. The owner of the drawing told us about the C-97 cockpit option.

Hello !
Who will have the boldness to realize a flying model of this surprising machine ?
Regards
Tonton

 

[Jemiba]

Hello !
Who will have the boldness to realize a flying model of this surprising machine ?
Regards
Tonton

Would lend itself perfectly to an indoor RC model like the one in this video, performing a really
authentic flight. It's filled with helium !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTtWnFMc_s&feature=player_embedded

 

[SorenThePilot]

This thread is two years old, but I found some info about the Howard DH-100 DBA (Damn Big Airplane) that is helpful:

Creative solutions to difficult problems are the mark of a
talented designer, and after one look at the airplane on
this page, it's obvious that the man who designed it took
a very creative approach to solving a very big problem. That man
is Dee Howard, and his creation is the DH-HX) DBA: an airplane
that ended up as, in Dee's words, "A piece of history that almost
happened."

Around 1965, NASA actively solicited proposals from several
companies to design an aircraft that would be capable of transport-
ing the Saturn II rocket booster— the center of the U.S. space pro-
gram at the time — from California to its launch site in Florida,
Until then, NASA had relied on ships to carry the 166-foot-long,
40-foot-diameter Saturn II to Florida via the Panama Canal. Sea
transport was slow, hut no airplane in existence then had the cargo
capacity necessary to do the job. Several proposals were submitted,
but the Dee Howard Co. was given the go-ahead to develop the
DH-100 DBA.

The project eventually fell victim to bureaucratic infighting
between government agencies, so a full-size DH-100 DBA was never
built. Despite its ungainly appearance, however, wind-tunnel tests
showed the design had potential Like his airplane. Dee appeared as
unlikely a candidate for success in aviation as he could be; he
founded his company in 1947 despite having only a seventh-grade
education. Dee knew that his DH-100 DBA (which stands, appro-
priately enough, for "Damn Big Airplane") concept was sound and
that, if built, it would fly — and he was determined to prove it.

Dee sold his company in 1 990, but he still had dreams of seeing
the DH-100 DBA fly, so he contacted Tom Prescott and asked him
to build a flying scale model of his plane. Because of the design's
unique layout, the model is being developed in stages. The first
stage was to build a model with scale wings and power system. This
test mule is approximately 1:16 scale and uses balsa, foam, plywood
and fiberglass in its construction. The original design called for a
biplane configuration, with one wing above and one wing below
the bulbous fuselage. The test mule shares this layout; its wingspan
is approximately \2 l A feet across at the top wing. The full-size plane
was to he powered by 10 (!) wing-mounted, surplus DC-7 turbo-
compound engines — six in the upper wing and four in the lower
wing. The test mule retains the scale locations and substitutes 10
YS-53FZ 4-stroke glow' engines, each with its own 12-ounce fuel tank.

The test mule had its maiden flight on August 21, 2001, with
designer Torn Prescott on the sticks. The model incorporates ailerons
and flaps on both wings, independent elevator servos, a gyro-
equipped rudder and scale, 20-wheel landing gear. In total, the
model uses 24 servos and has a maximum takeoff weight of 100
pounds. It carries enough fuel for 20-minute flights.

This is all the info I could find and likely all the info that will ever be discovered about this neat plane. Unfortunately, I cannot find any video or picture of the DH-100 DBA model taking flight. Hope this helps!

-Soren Janson

 

[Grey Havoc]

The project eventually fell victim to bureaucratic infighting
between government agencies, so a full-size DH-100 DBA was never
built.

Far too many good projects have had that fate.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any video or picture of the DH-100 DBA model taking flight.

More than likely due to the chaos after 9/11, including that caused by the newly created Homeland Security!

 

[AudimanIsAnAvgeek]

hello there guys, it has been 3 years since last activity, yes, but is there any information on the size

 

[AudimanIsAnAvgeek]

nvm, I have found out the size, it is 51.2 meters wingspan, 54.6 meters length and 22.4 meters height

 

[publiusr]

Musk needs to look at this. Then too, had he made a true copy of Boeings massive TSTO...maybe self ferry?

 

[AudimanIsAnAvgeek]

Musk needs to look at this. Then too, had he made a true copy of Boeings massive TSTO...maybe self ferry?

now musk aviation presents... THE MUSK FBP, with the wings and cap of a boeing 747 and 10 turbines

 

[AudimanIsAnAvgeek]

FBP standing for: FUCKING BIG PLANE

 

[Stargazer]

A three-view drawing of "The Big One" I did using the original plan in post #2 as a starting point:

 

[Archibald]

Well if it was for the S-II stage (NOT the S-IC) at least empty weight was "only" 80 000 pounds so in league with a C-141B payload.

S-II - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

S-II diameter however was 33 ft - far more than any aircraft fuselage diameter ever designed even today. Boeing and Airbus respective modified 747 and Beluga XL still fall short of 33 ft - from memory, around 25 ft.

 

[citizensnip]

DBA

 

[Kiltonge]

DBA

View attachment 742969

Good rendering.

But it seems a lot of structure to enclose Saturn V stages which, after all, were flight-rated units. Benefits over a slim-fuselage pick-a-back design? Even the proposed dorsal mounting for the C-133 looks more practical.

 

[Archibald]

"Morbidly obese". And with piston engines - because DC-6 / DC-7 legacy.

 

[publiusr]

That's just Kong's Cessna...

 

[martinbayer]

Well, I guess ugly ducks can fly just as well as pretty ones, physics permitting...

 

[Airborne2001]

Wow. It looks crazy, but then again nowadays it looks like something NASA might try. Whether it works or not is another question, of course.

 

[Coiler]

Looks like something out of a Metal Slug game.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Apparently the model that The Artist showed us back in 2013 has been restored (or else touched up, I'm quite not sure) sometime over the intervening years:

Howard DH-100 DBA: A really Damn Big Airplane.

Howard Aero of San Antonio (Texas), the builders of the sleek Howard 500, proposed this funny behemoth to meet NASA’s 1965 request for Saturn components transportation. The DBA was powered by…

elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

Good rendering.

But it seems a lot of structure to enclose Saturn V stages which, after all, were flight-rated units. Benefits over a slim-fuselage pick-a-back design? Even the proposed dorsal mounting for the C-133 looks more practical.

Presumably they wanted payload flexibility / future proofing.

 

[Archibald]

Imagine trying to land that thing through severe crosswinds. Would be a nightmare.