In 1959, Swearingen Aircraft was formed by Ed Swearingen. The company initially performed contract work for other manufacturers, until 1964 when they designed the SA-26 Merlin 1. That aircraft was a piston-powered twin similar to the Beech Queen Air and Twin Bonanza. In 1965, turboprops were added and the aircraft became the SA-26T Merlin II, followed by the Merlin IIA a year later. In 1968, Swearingen and Fairchild-Hiller cooperated on a 19- to 22-seat commuter airliner and called it the Metro.
In early 1970, Fairchild Industries acquired Swearingen’s and developed the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) for the U.S. Air Force. In 1996, the company took over Dornier
