Business aviation would be nowhere if it weren’t for the pioneers who jump-started aeronautical development in the first part of the last century. The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh and the early air racers who squeezed every ounce of available technology into what were then state-of-the-art airplanes all deserve much credit. Still, it wasn’t until after World War II that private aviation blossomed, aided by a confluence of a large pool of job-seeking ex-military pilots and technicians, plenty of redundant military transports and a growing appetite among business travelers for safe, reliable and swift transportation. Here’s a look at 15 of the turning points that helped
get us to where we are today.
1. Dee Howard Begins Converting Military Transports (1947)
An Air Force mechanic during World War II, Durrell Unger “Dee” Howard started Howard Aero in San Antonio in 1947. Howard and his crew began by maintaining twin-engine Lockheed Venturas but soon concluded that a few careful modifications would improve the airplane and make it more attractive to business travelers. The company dubbed its first conversion the Howard 250 because of the airplane’s cruising speed–250 mph–which at the time was pretty fast for a piston-radial-engine-powered airplane.
