EAA Sport Aviation - August 2009

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Farewell, Jim Swick

Another aviation legend has gone west. Jim Swick succumbed to complications from pneumonia; he was 81. I met Jim 15 years ago when my friend, Rick, moved next door to him at F69, Air Park-Dallas Airport. It didn’t take long to figure out that Jim wasn’t your average “Joe.” In fact, above average still didn’t properly describe him. Reluctant genius seems to be more descriptive. During his 2004 Sun ’n Fun visit to my house near Lakeland, Florida, Jim parked his camper in my driveway. He and I shared many stories sitting there in the camper; his truly amazing life was very evident.

From the time he was young Jim built things, many things. Anything mechanical, Jim could build it, tear it apart, or fix it. His love for airplanes came on the farm fields of Nebraska, his home state where he became a crop duster. Jim flew crop sprayers for many years and many amazing adventures until becoming an airline pilot and later a captain for Braniff on the 727. During this time Jim became involved in aerobatics, competing and designing his first airplane, the Swickster, a single-seat biplane. Jim recalled the harrowing 1966 last flight of the Swickster.

“It was a great flying ship, fast roll rate, sweet handling. I was practicing inverted flat spins when during one spin I couldn’t get it to recover. After repeated attempts and the earth looking uncomfortably close, I decided to part company with that little bird. I released my straps and somehow extricated myself,

kicked clear, and pulled the rip cord. I felt a tug, barely got one swing in the chute, and crunch! I landed in a cottonwood tree just as the

Swickster hit the ground right next to me! I was able to walk to a nearby road and catch a ride home.”

Jim continued to build airplanes, including several build-from-scratch Bucker Jungmeisters and derivatives. He built Bucker wings for his close friend and aerobatic legend (and my dad’s flight instructor) Frank Price; the same wings were used on his

The Great Waldo Pepper. He was also part of the design genius of Gene Soucy’s Showcat Grumman Ag-Cat turned aerobatic showplane. He was a close friend of Curtis Pitts, and they talked often, several times while I was visiting his shop. Jim also let me fly his amazing M14P powered Bucker Jungmeister, the finest aerobatic airplane I have ever flown (including the F- 16!).

He is famous, though, for his masterpiece, the Swick Taylorcraft. Jim and his son, Mike, designed, drew plans, and certified the design—still a cult favorite aerobatic mount and wonderful flying airplane. I flew the prototype elliptical wingtip Swick-T and can attest to its outstanding flying qualities. It remains one of the best “most bang for the buck” aerobatic airplanes of all time.

Jim’s last project was typical for Jim, an out-of-the-box thinking, Swick-T-Coupe. It has an Australian Rotec radial engine, digital engine monitor, and like all Jim’s airplanes, completely scratchbuilt. Jim had test run it and was ready for the test flight just before he died. Hopefully, it will fly soon; the line of volunteers for the test will indeed be long.