Edward "Ed" James Swearingen (12 September 1925 – 15 May 2014) was an

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

based in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Life

Swearingen was notable for developing modifications from existing production aircraft such as the

Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche The Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche is an American twin-engined cabin monoplane designed and built by Piper Aircraft. It was a twin-engined development of the PA-24 Comanche single-engined aircraft. A variant with counter-rotating propellers was ...

from the

Piper PA-24 Comanche The Piper PA-24 Comanche is an American four-seat or six-seat, low-wing, all-metal, light aircraft of semimonocoque construction with tricycle Landing gear, retractable landing gear. Piper Aircraft designed and developed the Comanche, which fir ...

single engine series and the

Swearingen Merlin The Swearingen Merlin or the Fairchild Aerospace Merlin is a pressurized, twin turboprop business aircraft first produced by Swearingen Aircraft, and later by Fairchild at a plant in San Antonio, Texas. Design and development The Merlin was a ...

turboprop aircraft from the Beech Model 50

Twin Bonanza The Beechcraft Model 50 Twin Bonanza is a small twin-engined aircraft designed by Beechcraft as an executive transport for the business market. It was developed to fill a gap in Beechcraft's product line between the single-engined Model 35 Bon ...

. Swearingen also developed original aircraft designs such as the SX-300 experimental airplane and Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 executive jet. Swearingen SX-300

References

External links

Living Legend Ed Swearingen’s Lifetime of Invention
- Airport Journals, May 2009 2014 deaths 1925 births American aerospace engineers {{US-engineer-stub