SignOnSanDiego.com – By Peter Rowe – Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Robert Schwanhausser’s life has two big chapters: one as a man and now one as a woman.
Robert Schwanhausser’s life was shrouded in mystery, but this was no secret. His three wives, two sons and countless colleagues knew that ?Swany? roamed the globe on vaguely-defined missions. Between 1952 and 1984, he huddled frequently with Pentagon officials, Israeli generals, Iraqi bureaucrats.
Exactly what was promised is buried in classified reports, but everyone knew the subject: the military use of drones.
At San Diego’s Ryan Aeronautical, Vice President Schwanhausser cut a dashing figure. He launched spy drones over China in the ’50s; slipped in and out of Saigon; sipped champagne at the Paris Air Show; briefed generals and presidents.
He led a team of the best and brightest, technical division. They are retired now, but they remember their chief as a beau ideal, the engineer as man of action.