02/28/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Howard Aero, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, USA was formed in 1947 as an aircraft service organization specializing in the business aviation market, the company was headed by founder Dee U. Howard and Ed J. Swearingen. The Manufacturing Division of Howard Aero was formed in 1955 and its first major product was the Super Ventura, a 8 to 14-passenger high-speed long-range transport designed and built specifically for business use, built around basic components of the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura.
Howard acquired 35 former RCAF and 21 former SAAF aircraft, the airframes were extensively modified, including a 4 ft (1.22 m) stretch of the fuselage. All systems were of entirely new design and manufacture, large windows were fitted in the fuselage sides, the bomb bay was converted to baggage compartments, and a stronger main landing gear (taken from the Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon) was fitted.
Powered by two 2,500 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 CB-16 eighteen-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engines driving four-bladed propellers, or two 2,000 hp R-2800-83AM10s with three-bladed propellers, the performance of the Super Ventura far exceeded that of the original PV-1. The first completed Super Ventura, pictured above and described below, made its first flight in 1955, and the first production aircraft was delivered in the autumn of the same year to Plymouth Oil Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The pictured aircraft was originally produced for the USN in 1943 by Vega at Burbank, California, USA, as a Model 237 PV-1 Ventura (BuNo 34605 c/n 237-5495). Under the Lend-Lease Act the aircraft was transferred to the RCAF on July 22, 1943 and was allotted the serial 2227. Struck off charge on March 19, 1952, the aircraft was acquired by Spartan Air Services of Ottawa, Ontario on May 12, 1954.
A month later, June 14, the aircraft was delivered to Howard Aero Service of San Antonio, Texas, registered as N5390N, and subsequently converted to the prototype/demonstrator of the Super Ventura. It flew as such for the first time on May 5, 1955, some years later it was repainted.
