Durrell U. “Dee” Howard (26 May 1920 – 12 February 2009) was a respected inventor and legendary in the aviation industry for his many creative accomplishments. Dee had over forty US and foreign patents issued in his name for both aviation and automotive products and the aviation companies which he founded and which bore his name held more than one hundred FAA Supplemental Types Certificates (STCs) and Type Certificates (TC). Dee’s aviation career spanned the birth and development of business aircraft in the post-World War II era. He is internationally recognized and honored for advancing the state of the art in business aircraft with numerous performance improvements, such as jet engine thrust reversers and refinements in aircraft flight characteristics.

Dee’s aviation career started at Stinson Field in San Antonio not far from the Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus. When what is now known as San Antonio International Airport (SAT) was opened to civil aviation Dee moved from Stinson to SAT, and while a foreman for Slick Airways, Dee towed the first aircraft into the first hangar at SAT. Dee played a significant role in the growth of civil aviation in San Antonio. To help preserve that history and to inspire our innovators of the future, Dee Howard International Education Foundation (DHEDF) is pleased to announce that it has made a gift from the Dee Howard Memorabilia Collection to Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMUSA) Archives & Special Collections to include records related to Dee’s patents, Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs), and Type Certificates (TCs); videos; magazines; newspaper articles; scanned & original photos; records related to Dee’s aviation and automotive companies; and such other items from the Dee Howard Memorabilia Collection related to San Antonio’s aviation history in general as may be agreed between DHEDF and TAMUSA.

The donated materials will be maintained as a single collection and, over time, will be made available to researchers. DHEDF is grateful to TAMUSA President Dr. Salvador Hector Ochoa and all of the members of the TAMUSA team for their tireless efforts in collaborating with DHEDF to provide a suitable permanent home for this collection.

To learn more about this gift, please call or email Wayne I. Fagan at (210) 570-7888 and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at DHEDF or Leslie Stapleton, Head of Archives & Special Collections, TAMUSA, at (210) 784-1512 and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.