One of the airplanes produced by the company was the DGA-11, powered by a nine-cylinder 450 horsepower (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior radial engine, was purportedly the fastest four-seat civil aircraft of the late 1930s,[citation needed] able to achieve a top speed of about 200 miles (320 km) per hour.

The onset of World War II signaled the end of the civil Howard aircraft line.

The U.S. Navy procured about 525 modified DGA-15s for use as the GH-2 Nightingale air ambulance, the GH-1 and GH-3 utility transport, and the NH-1 instrument trainer aircraft.

Many of the U.S. Navy Howard-built aircraft were sold to civil pilot owners postwar and a number were still airworthy in 2012.

Stockholders elected not to produce civilian aircraft after the war, sold the aviation assets, and used the proceeds to buy an electric-motor manufacturing company in Racine, Wisconsin, and named it Howard Industries.