 Designer Ben "Benny" Howard, after his success with smaller aircraft, designed and built the "Mister Mulligan", a successful 4-seat cross-country racer that also proved a worthy closed-course mount.While Beechcraft had designed and produced their Staggerwing for the private market, that aircraft was mechanically and structurally complex; Howard instead chose to emulate (on a larger scale) the simpler Monocoupe design.After winning both the Bendix and Thompson trophies in 1935, Howard turned to the formation of the Howard Aircraft Company - later Howard Aircraft Corporation on January 1, 1937, to produce commercial versions of the now-famous DGA cabin monoplanes, each custom-built by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel.