Paul, William (Bill), and Ernest Schweizer were three brothers who started building gliders in 1930. In 1937, they formed the Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company. Their first commercial glider sale was an SGU 1-7 glider to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Altosaurus Glider Club. At that time, Eliot Noyes was a

sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplan ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the Harvard soaring club. That glider was later restored and currently resides at the National Soaring Museum in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...

. In 1939, the Schweizer brothers relocated to

, and incorporated as

Schweizer Aircraft The Schweizer Aircraft Corporation was an American manufacturer of sailplanes, agricultural aircraft and helicopters located in Horseheads (town), New York, Horseheads, New York. It was incorporation (business), incorporated in 1939 by three Sc ...

. Best known internationally for their gliders, they also remembered the importance of the folks who worked with them and for them. Over their nearly 70 years, they enabled creation of various flying machines; from gliders to

crop duster A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s to

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

, while contributing to the

aircraft industry An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, in a few cases, direct downward thrust from its e ...

as a whole, and the Southern Tier of New York in particular. According to a recent editorial in the ''Elmira Star-Gazette'', when it came time to sell the company, the brothers wanted to find a buyer who respected their values and their folks, and chose the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (a UTC subsidiary) in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. The sale was completed successfully in 2004, providing growth opportunities for Schweizer. All three brothers have been inducted to the U.S.

Soaring Hall of Fame The Soaring Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made the highest achievements in, or contributions to, the sport of gliding, soaring in the United States of America. It has been located at the National Soaring Museum in Elmira, New York, s ...

;U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame web page
Paul and Ernest in its second year, 1955 (along with the

Wright Brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

), and later William in 1984. Paul and Ernest also won the 1953 Warren E. Eaton Memorial Trophy, considered

Soaring Society of America The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw–Hill Building on February 20, 193 ...

's highest award.

References

External links

November 2005 issue of SKYLINES
eference photo & caption on page 2
Schweizer corporate history page

* ttps://www.soaringmuseum.org/files/bzx_SCHWEIZER_P.pdf Article about Paul Schweizer at Soaring Museum website
Article about Bill Schweizer at Soaring Museum website

Article about Ernest Schweizer at Soaring Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schweizer brothers 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American engineers American aerospace engineers Businesspeople in aviation Aviation pioneers American glider pilots Brother trios Engineers from New York (state) People from Elmira, New York