Al Schwimmer

In 1917, Schwimmer was born in New York City, New York, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Schwimmer never used his given birth name of Adolph, preferring the nickname "Al".[2]

In 1939, Schwimmer began his aerospace career at Lockheed Corporation as an engineer and also received his civilian pilot license. During World War II, he worked for TWA and assisted the U.S. Air Transport Command as a flight engineer.[3]

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Schwimmer used his World War II experience and his contacts to smuggle surplus war planes to Israel.[1] Schwimmer reflected on what motivated these actions in an interview with Boaz Dvir. The alternative was described as a "Second Holocaust [...] they believed that those 600,000 Jews were going to die."[4] Using circuitous routes, he also recruited the pilots and crews to fly the planes to Israel. Many of these men became the nucleus of the Israeli Air Force.[1]

In 1949, Schwimmer returned to the United States and, in 1950, he was convicted in the United States of violating the US Neutrality Acts for smuggling the planes into Israel. Schwimmer was stripped of his voting rights and veteran benefits and fined $10,000, but did not receive a prison sentence. Schwimmer refused to ask for a pardon, believing that smuggling weapons to help create Israel was the right moral decision to make. In 2001, President Bill Clinton gave Schwimmer a presidential pardon.[1]

In the early 1950s, Schwimmer, who was running an aircraft maintenance company in Burbank, California, was approached by David Ben-Gurion, Israel's then prime minister, who asked Schwimmer to return to Israel and establish an aircraft company for commercial and military purposes.[1] Schwimmer acceded to Ben Gurion's request and founded Israel Aerospace Industries, of which he became the first CEO.[3]

1958 passport issued to Al Schwimmer which he used on his official trips as head of the IAI.

Schwimmer was one of the founders of Savyon, but later moved to Tel Aviv.[5]

In the mid-1980s, Schwimmer was a special adviser for technology and industry for Israel's then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who became a close friend.[1]

Schwimmer's wife is Rina. They have two children, Danny and Dafna, and four grandchildren, Orr, Ella, Sarah, and Avi. On June 10, 2011, Schwimmer died on his 94th birthday in a hospital in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, Israel.[6]

In 2015, his exploits during Israel's War of Independence were depicted in the PBS documentary A Wing and a Prayer, written, directed, and produced by Boaz Dvir. The film contains the only public interview Schwimmer gave in light of these events.[7]

• In 2006, Schwimmer was awarded the Israel Prize, for his lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State.[3][8]

• In 2018, Schwimmer was posthumously honored by the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., as one of the 70 most valuable American contributors to the strengthening of Israel and its alliance with the United States.[9][10]

• List of Israel Prize recipients
• List of people pardoned by Bill Clinton

• "Al Schwimmer", Israel Prize (CV) (in Hebrew), archived from the original on 2011-06-19.
• "'You're just right for Israel,' said Ben-Gurion", The Jerusalem Post (article), 13 June 2011.
• Al Schwimmer at LATimes.com
• Al Schwimmer's Presidential Pardon at israellobby.org
• Al Schwimmer at Forbes.com
• Clinton pardons listed at justice.gov