The company history and photographs below provide
chronological snapshots of Schweizer Aircraft through seven decades
of aviation history. William Schweizer's history of the company,
titled "Soaring With the Schweizers" can be purchased
by clicking on the Merchandise section in this web site.
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| 1927
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Charles Lindbergh made the first
solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. This historic event helped
fuel the three Schweizer brothers' interest in aviation. A 1929
article in National Geographic magazine on gliding in Cape Cod
was the catalyst to design and build the first Schweizer glider.
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|
| 1930
|
 The
maiden flight of the first Schweizer glider (SGP 1-1) took place
June 19th when Ernie, Paul A., and William Schweizer were 18, 17, and 12 years old, respectively. The materials used to build this glider cost $135. The Schweizer brothers taught themselves to fly in this aircraft and then went on to design and build an improved glider, the SGU 1-2.
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|
| 1937 |
Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company
was formed and the first sale of a Schweizer glider (SGU 1-7) was made
to Harvard's Altosqurus Glider Club for $595. |
|
| 1939 |
The Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company relocated to Elmira,
New York and was incorporated as Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in December.
Igor Sikorsky made the first successful controlled helicopter
flight in the VS-300.
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|
| 1940 |
The Schweizer SGS 2-8 sailplane established
a new American two-place distance record of 219 miles. |
|
| 1941 |
The December 7th attack on Pearl
Harbor brought the U.S. into World War II. |
|
| 1942 |
Construction was begun on a new 31,000
square foot plant near the Chemung County Airport. Schweizer
Aircraft began support of U.S war effort with production of
TG-2 training glider. |
|
| 1943 |
 The
first flight of the TG-3A Army Air Forces training glider took
place. The wings and tail surfaces of this glider were made
from wood, a non-strategic material during World War II. |
|
| 1944 |
The first recorded mercy mission by a helicopter took place
during a snowstorm. The Coast Guard flew blood plasma to 100
crewmen burned in an explosion aboard a U.S. destroyer a few
miles out of New York harbor.
Schweizer received an order from Air-cooled
Motors to build the engine housing and external cooling system
for the Sikorsky R-6 helicopters. This was Schweizer’s
introduction to helicopter production.
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|
| 1946 |
The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was instrumental
in getting the G.I. Training Bill to include glider training.
Schweizer organized a commercial glider school
which opened for business on May 17th. The school remains
active to this day and is the oldest commercial glider school
in the world.
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|
| 1947 |
The Army Air Forces became a separate military
service, independent from the U.S. Army, and was named the U.S.
Air Force.
Chuck Yeager, a USAF captain, made the first
supersonic flight in the X-1 rocket plane.
Two prototypes of the SGS 1-21, a single-place
contest sailplane, were built. One was flown by Dick Comey
at the National Soaring Contest in July at Wichita Falls,
Texas. He won the championship and set a new distance record
of 303 miles.
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|
| 1948 |
  Schweizer
received a subcontract from Chase Aircraft for the C-122 empennage
This evolved into the C-123 transport aircraft.
Schweizer manufactured the loading ramp and the rudder of
the C-123.
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|
| 1949 |
Schweizer received its first contract
from Bell to build fuselage structures for the Model 47 helicopter.
Schweizer remained an active subcontractor to Bell Helicopter
for 50 years and built over 50,000 stabilizers for Bell helicopters. |
|
| 1951 |
Schweizer received subcontracts from
Fairchild to build the moveable control surfaces for the C-119
transport aircraft. |
|
| 1952 |
 The
Schweizer brothers at a drafting table; from left: Paul A.,
Ernest, William. |
|
| 1953 |
 Schweizer
built the prototype of the SGS 1-26. It was designed and promoted
to be a one-design
"class" sailplane.
This design helped
popularize the sport of soaring throughout the United States. The 1-26 remained in production until 1981 and 700 units were produced. |
|
| 1957 |
Schweizer negotiated a contract to produce
100 ag-airplanes for Grumman Aircraft. The Ag-Cat remained in production until 1989 and 2646 units were produced. |
|
| 1958 |
British Overseas Airways began the
first jet airline service between the U.S. and Europe. The first
production Ag-Cat flight took place with Clyde Cook, Schweizer's airplane
test pilot, at the controls. |
|
| 1960 |
Schweizer negotiated a
contract to build empennage sections of the Grumman Gulfstream
I. Over 200 sets of vertical fins, rudders, stabilizers, elevators,
and ailerons were built by Schweizer between 1959 and 1968.
An order for sixty sailplanes was received from the U.S. Air
Force. |
|
| 1961 |
A Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, made the
first successful manned space flight.
Schweizer built the antennas required by Sperry
Gyroscope Corporation's long-range radar tracking system. This
was part of the Mobile Atlantic Range Station (MARS) space
vehicle tracking stations.
NASA’s director of flight test, Paul Bikle,
set a world glider altitude record flying a Schweizer 1-23E
sailplane. The new record of 46,267 feet stood for thirty-five years.
|
|
| 1962 |
John H. Glenn Jr. became the first
American astronaut to orbit the Earth. |
|
| 1967 |
The SGU 2-22 training glider was
upgraded to the SGS 2-33. Combined production for both sailplanes
was 837 units. Nearly all U.S. sailplane pilots learn to fly
in these sailplanes. |
|
| 1968 |
 The
Lockheed YO-3A quiet observation airplane was built under subcontract
to Lockheed using components of Schweizer's 2-32 sailplane. The aircraft
carried forward-looking infrared (FLIR), a new development,
and was operational in Vietnam for covert, night reconnaissance
missions. |
|
| 1969 |
Two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon. Four days later, they returned
safely to Earth. |
|
| 1970 |
Les Schweizer, first of the second generation
of the Schweizer family, joined Schweizer's Engineering Department. Stu followed
in 1972 and Paul in 1977. |
|
| 1973 |
The first flight of SGS 1-35 high performance
sailplane was made. It had a 40-1 glider ratio and won several national
soaring contests. |
|
| 1976 |
 The
world's first scheduled supersonic passenger airline service
was inaugurated when Air France and British Airways provided
Concorde Jet flights across the Atlantic Ocean.
The B Model Ag-Cat was introduced. Schweizer produced 286 Ag-Cats
in 1976 and averaged a production rate of 1.2 aircraft per
day.
|
|
| 1978 |
Allan Paulson purchased the Grumman
American Division from the Grumman Corp. (including Gulfstream
II and Ag-Cat) and renamed the company Gulfstream Corp. |
|
| 1980 |
 Schweizer
purchased the Ag-Cat Program from Gulfstream.
The turbine-powered D Model Ag-Cat was certified and introduced. It had a 500 gallon hopper and was powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine.
|
|
| 1981 |
The first manned spacecraft, Columbia, took off with a rocket
assist and successfully returned to Earth as a glider. NASA
required sailplane flying as part of the training program
for the astronaut pilots of the space shuttle.
Schweizer received a subcontract from Sikorsky Aircraft to
produce UH-60 Black Hawk gunner windows. This production line
still exists at Schweizer.
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|
| 1983 |
Schweizer reached an agreement with Hughes Helicopter whereby
it became the licensed manufacturer and product support source
for the Hughes Model 269/300C series helicopters.
Transition of Schweizer Aircraft's management from the first
generation to second generation of the Schweizer family was completed.
|
|
| 1984 |
Schweizer received a USAF contract to develop
the SGM 2-37 motorglider to be used as a flight training aircraft
at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. |
|
| 1985 |
 In
June, a Schweizer 300C was delivered to The Cousteau Society
to be based on their oceanographic ship, Calypso. The helicopter
was used for aerial photography, aerial exploration and ship-to-shore
transportation. |
|
| 1986 |
Schweizer received a contract to develop
a version of the 2-37 motorglider into a quiet, reconnaissance
airplane. |
|
| 1989 |
Breakup of the Soviet Union precipitated many changes in
the world order and a rethinking of requirements for U.S.
Military Aircraft.
The B-2 Stealth Bomber made its first flight. It was built
from composite structures that reduced its radar cross section.
|
|
| 1992 |
 Designed
for training and patrol, the Model 330 turbine-powered helicopter
was FAA Certified in September. |
|
| 1995 |
FAA Certification of the Schweizer
300CB helicopter was received. The 300CB was developed specifically
for commercial training of helicopter pilots. |
|
| 1999 |
Schweizer delivered its 633rd 300C
and its 100th 300CB helicopters. The total number of aircraft
produced by the company reached 5,625 and included both fixed
wing and rotary wing aircraft. |
|
| 2000 |
 Schweizer
received FAA type certification for Model 333 Helicopter.
Northrop Grumman won U.S. Navy VTUAV competition using an
unmanned derivative of the Model 333 helicopter. Schweizer received
a contract award to build prototype and EMD Model 379 vehicles.
Schweizer received a contract to develop and manufacture
three RU-38B reconnaissance aircraft.
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|
| 2001 |
World Trade Towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington
D.C. were attacked by terrorists.
SA 2-37B Aircraft were delivered to the Colombian Air Force to support counter-drug
and counter-terrorism efforts.
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