Full size printed plans Peanut Scale HOWARD'S DGA-3 'PETE' a Golden Age racer

Full size printed plans No material

HOWARD'S

DGA-3 'PETE'

Full size printed plan on a sheet 11” x 17”

Six page article with building notes and photos

Peanut Scale

Wingspan 13"

Power Rubber

BY JOHN BERRYMAN

It's hard to resist the appeal of a Golden Age racer. One of the most famous of the designers of that era was Benny Howard, who gave us "Ike," "Mike," "Mr. Mulligan," the "DGA" (Darned Good Airplane) series of civil aircraft and "Pete," the subject of this construction article. Pete as presented here needed no modifications—no blowup of stab or rudder, no lengthening of the landing gear, no changes in outlines or moments at all. The only readily apparent change is in the dihedral ... Benny called for three degrees, but since our Pete will be on autopilot at all times, I roughly tripled the dihedral to aid stability. Like any racing thoroughbred, Pete is not for a tyro, but is intended as a rewarding project for an experienced flyer. Let's build Pete.

Flying Surfaces

Yawn. Nothing sexy here. The wing tips and curved surfaces of the rudder and stab are made from 2 laminations of 1/40 balsa. The ribs are 1/32, except for the center rib which is made from 1/16. The leading and trailing edges of the wing are made from 1/ 16 stock, as is the wing spar. The internal structure for the rudder and stab are cut from 1/20 balsa.

Thank you for looking