Star Novak captured this photo of a Swift at the airport next to hers. When she reached out to the owner to learn more, she discovered what a gem this aircraft is.
“The previous caretaker had this plane for about 40 years,” said Ron Sipple, president of Vintage Aircraft Association Chapter 16 and the proud owner of the plane. “He is one of the long-time Swift gurus. He used this Swift to create/test some of the common STCs you see on most of the Swifts, like the aux tanks, bubble canopy, sticks, etc. I’m sure this plane has some pretty cool stories.”
“The Swift is very loosely based on World War II fighter planes, primarily the P-40,” he continued. “The attached sketch is a Swift on the left side and a P-40 on the right. The resemblance is striking. The camouflage paint scheme is molded after a Fighting Tigers P-40.”
I thought it was a trick. I kept looking for some way to see a picture of the Swift that was so aptly described in the article. Sadly, no links and no pictures. 🙁
I just found a picture of the Swift mentioned in this article. It’s in another article back in early 2017 at this link: https://generalaviationnews.com/2017/02/16/a-plane-with-stories-to-tell/
Thank you. – I nominate you for Managing Editor for doing his job. Like all the news pubs today the news must be double checked. Whatever . . . . (Hey Editor – WakeUp!)
There are undeniable similarities…they’re both low- wing taildraggers!
I had to do a double take at the line drawing; looks like whoever attempted to line up each half continued the P-40 nose on both sides after the Swift half ended at the prop spinner. They also would have had to use drawings of different scales to get it even close, as the P-40 is almost 32 ft long and a Swift is under 21 ft. Who ever submitted this item sure seems to be clueless….makes me loose a little respect for the GA News, or at least the editor.
A young person that I took on a Young Eagles flight sent me a thank you note on a post card. The photo on the front was an F-86, with a caption saying that it was the most widely successful fighter of World War II!
Bob
F-86 WW II…….. I don’t get it???????? Are we going to completely ignore history and the facts?
Isn’t it a little early for April Fool ? That is not a Swift.
It’s not April Fool’s day, is it? That is not a photo of a Swift, or even a highly modified Swift. It is a P-40E. Why not publish the correct photo of the Swift? Did the author really get fooled by whomever sent this in?
Yeah, there isn’t much swift in that picture. The length of the nose and all those exhaust stacks suggest something much more along the lines of a P40.. The line drawing is clearly a swift, but doesn’t seem to align on any meaningful way with the photo.
Fighting Tigers? The “paint job” looks a lot like the Flying Tigers (AVG) P-40.
I concur.
That is, they were the Flying Tigers — AVG = American Volunteer Group (as I recall).