Adolph William Schwimmer (;‎ June 10, 1917 – June 10, 2011) was an American

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran who was the founder and first CEO of

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

Early life

In 1917, Schwimmer was born in New York City, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Schwimmer never used his given birth name of Adolph, preferring the nickname "Al".

Career

In 1939, Schwimmer began his aerospace career at

Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-u ...

as an engineer and also received his civilian pilot license. During World War II, he worked for

TWA The Twa, often referred to as Batwa or Mutwa (singular), are indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, recognized as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. Historically and academically, the term � ...

and assisted the U.S.

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies a ...

as a flight engineer.. During the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, Schwimmer became a

Mahal Mahal may refer to: Places * Mahal, India, a small town in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India * Mahal, Punjab, a village in Jalandhar district of Punjab State, India * Mahal, Paschim Bardhaman, a census town in Pandabeswar CD Block in ...

operative, using his World War II experience and his contacts to smuggle 30 surplus war planes to Israel in violation of an arms embargo imposed by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

.. Schwimmer also recruited pilots and crew, mostly World War II veterans, to fly circuitous routes to land the planes in Israel. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses were smuggled by way of the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, then to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Using the planes, the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

would bombard a residential neighborhood near Qasr al-Qubba in Cairo on July 15, 1948, during the international phase of the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

.Beinin, Joel. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft2290045n/ Schwimmer reflected on what motivated these actions in an interview with

Boaz Dvir Boaz Dvir (; born June 23, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor, journalist, and filmmaker. His main work includes documentaries, most recently '' Class of Her Own, Jessie's Dad'', and '' A Wing and a Prayer''. Background Filmmaker and Penn ...

. He described the alternative as allowing a "Second Holocaust" to happen, saying, "I believed those 600,000 Jews were going to die." In 1949, Schwimmer returned to the United States and, in 1950, he was convicted of violating the US Neutrality Acts for smuggling the planes into Israel. Schwimmer was stripped of his voting rights and veterans benefits and fined $10,000, but did not receive a prison sentence. Schwimmer refused to ask for a pardon, believing that smuggling weapons to help create Israel was the right moral decision to make. In 2001, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

gave Schwimmer a presidential

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

. In the early 1950s, Schwimmer, who was running an aircraft maintenance company in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, was approached by

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

, Israel's then

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, who asked Schwimmer to return to Israel and establish an aircraft company for commercial and military purposes. Schwimmer acceded to Ben Gurion's request and founded

(IAI), of which he became the first CEO. When Schwimmer retired in 1988, IAI was the largest company in Israel, valued at $1 billion. Sam Lewis, a former codefendant, worked for him as a pilot and consultant and helped set up several airlines in Europe, Asia, and South America.Lewis, Samuel, 1992-2009
Machal/Aliya Bet collection (I-501). Box 13, folder 13. Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th St. NY. NY 10011 Schwimmer was one of the founders of

Savyon Savyon () is an affluent town in the Central District of Israel, bordering the cities of Kiryat Ono and Yehud. Ranked 10/10 on the Israeli socio-economic scale, it is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Israel. In it had a population of . ...

, but later moved to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Political activity

In the mid-1980s, Schwimmer was a special adviser for technology and industry for Israel's then-Prime Minister

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

, who became a close friend. In this capacity, Schwimmer was an intermediary between the U.S. and Iran during the

Lebanon hostage crisis The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly US, Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were repr ...

to trade American and Israeli weapons to Iran for the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. In the 1990s, Schwimmer was involved in the movement to codify Israel's constitution, together with a bill to give equality to all branches of Judaism.

Personal life

Schwimmer was married and had two children, Danny and Dafna, as well as four grandchildren, Orr, Ella, Sarah, and Avi. On June 10, 2011, Schwimmer died on his 94th birthday in a hospital in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

Tel Aviv District The Tel Aviv District (; ) is the geographically smallest yet also the most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel, with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewish and 1.10% Arab (0.7% Muslim, 0.4% Chris ...

, Israel.

Legacy

Schwimmer has been called the father of the

described his actions as the most important

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

contribution to the survival of the state of Israel. In 2015, his exploits during

were depicted in the PBS documentary '' A Wing and a Prayer'', written, directed, and produced by

. The film contains the only public interview Schwimmer gave in light of these events.

Awards

* In 1975, he was awarded the Herzl Prize for his contribution to Israel's security and economy. * In 2006, Schwimmer was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for his lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State. *In 2018, Schwimmer was posthumously honored by the

Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. The Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the State of Israel to the United States. It is located at 3514 International Drive, Washington, D.C., in the North Cleveland Park neighborhood. History The Ambassador is ...

, as one of the 70 most valuable American contributors to the strengthening of Israel and its alliance with the United States.

References

External links

* . * .
Al Schwimmer at LATimes.com

Al Schwimmer at Forbes.com

Clinton pardons listed at justice.gov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwimmer, Al 1917 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Aircraft designers American aerospace businesspeople American aerospace designers American aerospace engineers American aviation businesspeople American emigrants to Israel American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from New York (state) Israeli aerospace engineers Israeli Air Force personnel Israeli chief executives Israeli Jews Israel Prize for special contribution to society and the State recipients Jewish engineers Jewish American Mahal personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Lockheed people People convicted of arms trafficking People from Ramat Gan People pardoned by Bill Clinton Trans World Airlines people 21st-century American Jews United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II