Globe Swift Is More Than an Aircraft—It’s a Community

There is something about owning anything vintage—be it a car, motorcycle, or boat—that makes a person want to look for other owners with the same passion.

But this is particularly true of aircraft owners who gather in type clubs. Many of these clubs are dedicated to what we now call vintage airplanes. Before the invention of the internet, they kept in touch with a monthly, quarterly, or bimonthly newsletter often created on a manual typewriter and sent to club members. Dues were collected via check and paid for paper and postage, and the club officers were volunteers.

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The Swift Museum Foundation began this way. It was started by Swift owner Charlie Nelson more than 40 years ago, well before the world was connected online. Nelson placed an advertisement in Trade-A-Plane to determine if there was interest among Globe Swift owners to establish a type club.

There was indeed. In the pages of the newsletter, you would find stories from members about projects they were doing, information about fly-ins in the past or upcoming, tips for care and feeding of the aircraft, and where to get replacement parts and leads on airplanes for sale.

Type clubs were one of the first aviation entities to make the jump to digital, and their membership blossomed, especially if the aircraft was no longer in mass production (so-called orphan aircraft) or the design had undergone multiple modifications. The Globe Swift checks both these boxes, and as such it has one of the more robust type clubs in the industry, thanks in part to the Swift Museum Foundation, a nonprofit with a physical museum in Athens, Tennessee, which acts as a repository for all things Swift.

It can be found online at swiftmuseumfoundation.org. There you can make contact with people who can answer all your questions about Swift ownership and even get in touch with checkout pilots who can assist with that all-important transition training.

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There is also a robust online presence in the form of GlobeAircraft.com, operated by Swift owner Vernon Rooze. According to Rooze, a private pilot, he entered the Swift world in 2012 when a friend took him to a fly-in at Fredericksburg, Texas.

“It was the Swift community that got me into the airplane,” said Rooze, who purchased his airplane in 2012 and created GlobeAircraft.com in 2014. “You don’t find a better group of people than Swifters.”

According to Rooze, the Swift was designed in 1940 by R.S. “Pop” Johnson based on his review of a Culver Cadet, an all-wooden airplane. Johnson made improvements to the basic design and obtained financing from John Kennedy, the president and founder of Globe Medicine Co. and part-owner of Bennett Aircraft Corp.

Although certified in 1942 by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (the precursor to the FAA), airplane production was shelved until the end of World War II. After the war it enjoyed a new resurgence, as it was marketed to appeal to the returning service members who flew fighters during the conflict and wanted to keep flying.

Known as the “poor man’s P-51” after the war because it cost less than a war-surplus P-51 (the latter was roughly $600, which at the time was a healthy down payment on a house), on the ground it handled quite a bit like a Mustang. However, a side-by-side comparison of the plane view of both the Swift and Mustang does not reveal a physical resemblance, as opposed to a comparison with the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, which exhibits similar lines.

Looks aren’t all it shares, according to Roose. He said the performance also feels more like a fighter than a training aircraft.

“It is a good energy management machine that loves to dive and pick up speed with the rounded wingtips that give it that very fighter feel,” Roose said. “Instead of wires, you have control rods, so you have a very smooth feel of the ailerons and a tight airplane.”

Other Swift owners noted that the aircraft is very light on the controls, so it is a good idea to receive some training with someone who is Swift proficient and can help with the learning curve. More so than other aircraft, the performance of each Swift can vary, as the aircraft has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most modified and refined vintage planes in existence.

Postwar magazine advertisements tout the aircraft’s short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability along with refinements to the landing gear, canopy, and engine. Other modifications include upgrading the engine from 85 hp to 125 hp and later options for an O300 and IO360 engine. There is also a choice between a control yoke, which was the original design, and a control stick, along with different tailwheels, landing struts, and nose—some giving the aircraft a distinctive “snaggle-tooth smile,”—and changes to the instrument panel.

“When people ask about the Swift, we say if you have seen one Swift, you have seen one Swift because so many of them have been modified over the years,” said Rooze.

Let Me Tell You About My Baby…

Every person interviewed said you don’t really go looking for a Swift to buy—rather, someone introduces you to it. Most Swift owners learn about the airplane through a mentor, friend, or family member.

Ron Schmidt, a general aviation pilot with more than 5,000 hours and the proud owner of N2422B, a 1949 Temco Swift, said he was introduced to the Swift at the tender age of 5 by his father, who owned one. The younger Schmidt began his flying career at 15 and owned several airplanes, ranging from a Piper 260B Comanche and a Beech A36TC Bonanza to a Beech B60 Duke, before he finally took the plunge and acquired a Swift. He described it as a postretirement purchase.

“When I sold my business and retired in 2020, I also sold the Duke,” Schmidt said. “I didn’t really need that much airplane anymore. I was looking around for my next ride, and I ran across a Swift and thought, hmm…this is kind of a full-circle moment. I researched the market and found the nicest one I could and bought it. I had lost my father many years earlier but felt his presence every time I slipped this airplane on. Buying it was one of my better aviation decisions.”

Gary Moore, from Denver, is the proud owner of N80775, a 1946 GC-1 Globe Swift. Like Schmidt, he has owned multiple aircraft and was introduced to the Swift by a friend, saying there was something about it that attracted him.

“I was 15 or 16 years old, and the guy that was teaching me to fly had a Globe Swift that was polished aluminum,” Moore said. “He’d taxi up in it, and I thought, ‘I don’t know what kind of an airplane that is, but, man, I like that one.’ I’ve always just kind of had an affection for just the looks of the aircraft.”

Moore has been flying for more than 40 years, much of that as a pilot for United Airlines. As luck would have it, one of his coworkers had a Swift.

“His name is Neil Kardos, and he was actually my boss at one point,” Moore said. “He had a Swift that he owned for 49 years. He took me up in it a few times. And he told me that…when the time comes and I need to sell the Swift, you’ll be the first person I contact…the first right of refusal. So that’s kind of how I got involved with finding this particular one.”

Moore’s aircraft is polished aluminum. The July morning FLYING met up with him in the Vintage parking area at EAA AirVenture the aircraft gleamed like a silver coin dropped on the green infield.

According to Moore, Swift owners make it a point to keep their airplane looking presentable with regular polishing. That’s at least four to five times a year for Moore, who likes to take his airplane to fly-ins and airshows where it picks up dirt and fingerprints.

“I try to make it look as pretty as I can, because people are coming in and spending lots of money just to come into the event,” he said. “And I can tell you that when I taxi up to any FBO, a lot of people aren’t sure what kind of airplane it is, but boy, they’re sure interested.”

Type Clubs and Access to Parts

When you own a vintage machine that is no longer in production, getting replacement parts can be tricky. The entity that owns the type certificate (TC) can legally make the parts. Over the decades different companies bought and sold TCs like baseball cards, which can make tracking down information required to manufacture replacement parts a challenge.

The Swift Museum Foundation addressed this by buying the TC, which allows them to make the parts or supply an aircraft owner with the information needed to manufacture the part they need. It often comes down to enough members expressing an interest then the foundation determining if it can produce the part in a cost-effective manner.

This proactive approach to replacement parts was another draw for Moore.

“The foundation might say, ‘We’re going to place an order for 15 to 20 of this part because we can sell 10 of them right now,” he said. “Even though the airplane is 79 years old, they still have active parts and active components. And if they don’t have it, they certainly have the type certificate and the rights to retool or recreate, rebuild, or whatever the parts as needed.”

The Swift Museum

The Swift Museum can be found at McMinn County Airport (KMMI), about 39 nm northeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee. In it, you learn the history of the aircraft and efforts to preserve it for future generations.

“We raised enough money, [and] we built the actual museum itself, and that’s where we got the airplanes out of the old buildings, put them in the new buildings [to] where they have a board behind each aircraft explaining about [it] and pictures of the original facility,” said Paul Mercandetti, Swift Museum Foundation vice chairman. “One of our members scrounged up some of the original bricks from the old factory when it was torn down in Saginaw, Texas, as well as the flagpole. These were shipped to Tennessee. One of our members built a display case, and for a donation, you can have your name put on one of the bricks and put in the display case.”

Jim Roberts, museum historian, notes the foundation could not function without the leadership provided by executive director Scott Anderson.

“Scott became involved with Swifts a long time ago when he was a teenager,” said Roberts. “He is an excellent A&P mechanic. He’s restored numerous Swifts, award-winning Swifts, including an original GC-1A that was flown to Oshkosh and went home with a Lindy Award. Scott had a shop at Athens, Tennessee, for many years, adjacent to the Swift Museum, and now he primarily spends his time guiding the foundation.”

As many of the questions raised by owners or would-be owners have to do with aircraft maintenance or restoration, having a Swift-experienced A&P on the museum board of directors is very helpful, according to both Mercandetti and Roberts.

The foundation also offers copies of Swift manuals, schematics, and parts, emphasizing the importance of preserving the aircraft’s original features while allowing for some modernization. It can also assist members in finding local shops to perform maintenance. 

This feature first appeared in the November Issue 964 of the FLYING print edition.