Author: Terry

Bellamy Proctor/Junkers Ju 87

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Vivian Bellamy’s Percival Proctor/Junkers Ju 87 Stuka conversion was built for the ‘Battle of Britain’ movie.

This aircraft was known as a “Proctuka”, and was a Percival Proctor trainer that had been heavily modified in order to make it look like a German Stuka dive bomber, including the addition of the cranked wings. Flight characteristics of the Proctukas were not good, though, and their flying footage was not used in the film (models were used for the Stukas instead).

It was considered by one pilot as “too dangerous to fly”

replica Stuka sliding down a cable which was suspended between two cranes, crashing into Chain Home antenna tower
The Stuka impacting the tower, from an unknown magazine

Dickinson DGA-21

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In 1999, Dickinson laid out on his hanger floor in Santa Paula, California, the first piece of what would be a brand new Howard. The goal was to build the airplane he believed Benny Howard would have built had he continued to build Howards.

He wanted Mr Mulligan’s speed and performance, as well as the DGA-15’s handling qualities and stability.

Dickinson adapted the original Mr Mulligan wing configuration, which had been replaced in later production models, and up-graded the DGA-15’s 450 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine with a modern version, one that delivers 600 hp. He built every piece of the plane, or modified something from a DGA-15 or another airplane.

First flying in 2008, at 225 mph, it is 50 percent faster than the DGA-15. The designation, DGA-21 is the sum of DGA-6 (Mr Mulligan, and -15.