AirVenture 2023: Mister Mulligan

Doug Rozendaal leads what most would call a charmed life. He gets to fly high-performance World War II fighters and bombers in front of admiring crowds. He also gets to fly exotic vintage civilian aircraft. Their owners place implicit trust in him with their often irreplaceable and virtually priceless antiques.

Doug also owns some enviable aircraft of his own, including a Harmon Rocket, a Beech Baron twin, a Meyers OTW (“Out To Win”) golden-age biplane and an L-2 miliary liaison Taylorcraft from the WWII era.

His latest personal acquisition is a highly accurate replica of the one-off racing version of the Howard DGA 6 (“Damn Good Airplane”) known as “Mister Mulligan.” In the video, he tells the history of the airplane and recounts the lives of many of the people involved in how he came to own it. Rozendaal also shares his “secret” for maneuvering his backside into the pilot seats of so many great airplanes. Spoiler alert: The answer is about what you might expect.