In 1939, three brothers, Paul, William, and Ernest Schweizer, founded Schweizer Aircraft Corporation to manufacture sailplanes, helicopters, and agricultural aircraft at Horseheads, New York. The company began with the Mercury Glider Club, which built the first two Schweizer gliders in the Schweizers’ barn. It was originally named the Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company. Lawyer Bob McDowell suggested that the Schweizers move their manufacturing from their father’s barn to the Elmira, New York area. The Schweizers liked the idea because they needed more space to produce gliders, but they didn’t have the money to make the move. McDowell helped the Schweizers by getting Elmira Industries Inc., the local business development group, to provide them space on the second floor of the Elmira Knitting Mill Building in exchange for company stock. This led Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company to change its name to Schweizer Aircraft Corporation. They sold shares to Elmira Industries, local businesspeople, and soaring pilots. Schweizer is best known for its gliders, also called sailplanes. The first model, the SGP 1-1, was made in 1930. Although few of these early gliders were built, later models became popular. The US Army Air Corps used the SGS 2-8 and 2-12 for training and renamed them the TG-2 and TG-3.
The Schweizer SGS 1-23 was a top competition and record-setting glider from its first flight in 1948 until production ended in 1967. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation designed and built the popular SGS 1-26 and SGS 2-33 gliders. In the 1970s, they introduced the single-seat SGS 1-34 and its retractable gear version, the SGS 1-34R. These gliders were easy to fly and build, rugged, and forgiving. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, the company launched the higher-performance SGS 1-35 and SGS 1-36 Sprite. The United States Air Force Academy adopted the 2-33 as the TG-4 for introductory airmanship training. The Academy used over a dozen of these gliders until 2002, when more modern sailplanes replaced them. The Royal Canadian Air Cadets still operate a fleet of more than seventy 2-33As. Popular Schweizer gliders like the single-seat SGS 1-26, the two-seat 2-33, and the two- or three-seat SGS 2-32 are still found at many gliding clubs across the US. Schweizer also produced the Grumman G-164 Ag Cat, a single-engine biplane used for agriculture. Grumman developed this aircraft in the 1950s. Under a contract with Grumman, Schweizer built the Ag Cat nearly continuously from 1957 to 1981. During that time, the company manufactured 2,455 aircraft.
In 1981, Schweizer bought the rights to the Ag Cat design and continued its production, calling it the Schweizer Ag Cat. In 1995, Schweizer sold these rights to Ag-Cat Corp. in Malden, Texas. In February 2001, Allied Ag-Cat Productions Inc. in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, bought the design. Schweizer also produced light piston-powered helicopters for utility and flight training. One of its most popular models is the Schweizer 300CBi, which was originally designed by Hughes Aircraft as the Hughes 269 for the United States Army. In 1986, Schweizer gained all rights to this helicopter from McDonnell Douglas, which had acquired Hughes Helicopters in 1984. Schweizer received the FAA Type Certificate and called it the Schweizer-Hughes 300C for a short time before changing it to the Schweizer 300C. The helicopter’s basic design has not changed much over the years. Together, Hughes and Schweizer have built and flown nearly 3,000 Model 269/300 over the past 50 years. Schweizer improved the Model 300 by redesigning the body to produce the Schweizer 330, which led to the Schweizer 333. Schweizer was acquired by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in 2004 and became a diversified aerospace company. But in 2011 and 2012, Sikorsky Aircraft laid off all its workers and closed the plant. Production resumed in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2018. By 2021, the company was producing two helicopter models: the 300C and 300CBi. Read more Forgotten Factories articles HERE.
