Airborne
Since 1995!

History of DGA Aviation

DGA is a twist on Benny Howard's designation for his racers. The first one he built in 1930 won many air races. After his racing success he started building them to sell as DGA-10, -11, -12, -14, and -15. Did you notice? No DGA-13! The letters DGA stood for Damn Good Airplane. The letters for our little group stand for Damn Good Association. And, so it is, a Damn Good Association.

DGA Aviation started as a loose association of three pilots--Rod Farley, Stan Lawrence, and Bruce Walters--in 1993. The main purpose was to share hangar costs of a newly acquired hangar. Stan talked Rod into buying a Cessna 140, then taught him how to fly it. Bruce was restoring his RV-1. Stan was flying a Culver Cadet. The first contract was drawn up in 1995, and the stated purpose of the Association was as follows: "This group is formed for the sole purpose of having fun." Individually, we were limited to owning one or maybe two airplanes each. By pooling our resources, we could buy, hangar, and maintain as many different airplanes as could possibly fit into the hangars.

Over the years, many people have been a part of this Damn Good Association, including: Stan Lawrence, Rod Farley, Bruce Walters, Carl Stolnacke, Max Bandi, Jeff Barnes, Kevin Black, Scott Monroe, Nick Leonard, Larry Warren, Tom Culling, Mark Zukowski, Norman Champ, Nancy Trugeon, Tony Machado, Kim Ioanidis, Tim Redden, Sue Wiseman, Cimone Nunley, Glenn Davis, Dale Morris, Joe Marquering, Greg Smith, Emmet Welch, Steve Lightstone, Scott Collins, Jim Sobelewski, Justin Frei and Drew Blase.

Over the years we have had the following aircraft in our group, in order of acquisition:
  1. Culver Cadet LFA "Charlie"
  2. Piper Apache
  3. Cessna 140
  4. Globe Swift (125)
  5. Vans/Lawrence/Farley RV-4 "Lucy" (2x)
  6. Jungster II
  7. Cessna 140 (another one)
  8. Beechcraft P35 Bonanza
  9. Mooney M20E
  10. Starduster I
  11. Vans/Wassom RV-6A "Ketchup & Mustard"
  12. Starduster II
  13. KR II
  14. Luscombe 8A
  15. Cassutt Racer
  16. Globe Swift (145)
  17. Thorpe T-18
  18. Mustang II
  19. Smyth Sidewinder
  20. Vans/Lawrence RV-4 "Speedy"
  21. Culver Cadet LCA "Charlie II"
  22. Vans/Lawrence RV-8A "Toby"
  23. Vans/Leonard RV-10
  24. Vans/Richburg RV-6A "Peanut"
  25. Boeing Stearman N2S-5
  26. Rans S-9 Chaos
  27. Rans S-7S Courier
  28. Cessna 150L "Bumblebee"
  29. Piper J-3 Cub (under restoration)
  30. Cessna 172F
  31. Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche "Twinkie"
  32. Vans/Lawrence RV-12
  33. Beechcraft S-35 Bonanza
  34. Piper PA-24-250 Comanche
  35. Globe Swift GC-1B-180 "Jonathan"
  36. Cessna 190 Businessliner "Orange Whip"
  37. Bellanca 8KCAB Decathlon
  38. Cessna 180 "Scruffwagon"
  39. Lancair 360 Mk2
  40. Cessna 172K (under restoration)
  41. Vans/Lawrence RV-14
  42. Yakovlev Yak-52
  43. Laser 230

Starduster II

Bonanza

Cessna 190