The owner of this aircraft is Tony Phillippi. His company, TPAero, owns both of the only remaining flying examples of the Howard 500.
During the 1950s and '60s, Howard Aero Inc had been remanufacturing military surplus Lockheed Lodestars and Lockheed Venturas for the executive market, but while the Howard 500 bore a strong resemblance to these aircraft, it was a substantially new design, and all 500s had completely new fuselages.
