Flying with the Schweizers

William Schweizer was part of the first generation of the Schweizer family that started to make thousands of gliders, airplanes, helicopters, and unmanned vehicles. He was only twelve years old when the first Schweizer glider was built and joined his brothers in the newly formed Schweizer Aircraft Corp. in 1941. He retired in 1981 and continued flying sailplanes into his 1980s. He died at age ninety-eight. Paul H. Schweizer was born into aviation, and at age fourteen, he became a sailplane pilot. By the age of eighteen, he was an experienced contest pilot and a flight instructor. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he joined the Boeing Co. When he joined Schweizer Aircraft, he focused on marketing and finance. He retired in 2009, four years after Sikorsky purchased the company. He splits his time between Arizona and Utah with his wife, Lauren, and remains an active pilot.