Howdy taildraggers. I enjoy flying and maintaining my Swift just about as much as anything I know of. I base at Zuehl (1TE4) 6nm Southeast of Randolph AFB outside San Antonio, TX. There are six Swifts on the field and many other taildraggers. Zuehl is a taildragger friendly fly-in community. Fuel is $1.99 a gallon, which is some of the cheapest around. Drop in and lets talk airplanes sometime. I'm generally on site every Saturday and at other times during the week. Assisting in restoring a 1946 Swift which is near original other than the engine which is a Continental O-300.
The Swift picked up a reputation for being a 'bugger' to fly. Most of that was in the early days when the aircraft was somewhat underpowered. Once the factory decided on powering it with a Cont.125HP engine, the airplane no longer deserved the reputation it had picked up. Most of the stories you hear about a Swift are from people that have not flown this neat little machine. I am an aviator who started flying taildraggers in the late forties and fifties. Found out the Air Force would pay the 'tab' for my flying habit so I joined the Air Force and flew fighters or taught others to fly jets for 28 years. When I retired from the military, I couldn't shake the flying bug and the nearest thing I could find to appease my habit was the Swift. It comes closer to emulating the handling qualities of a good fighter than any production aircraft I know of. Drop by Zuehl and I'll prove my point. Ed Lloyd
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