Charles Francis Sweeny

Charles Francis Sweeny (October 3, 1909 Scranton, Pennsylvania – March 11, 1993) was an American businessman and socialite who played a major role in the formation of the Eagle Squadrons, composed mostly of volunteer American pilots eager to fight in the Royal Air Force prior to the United States entering into World War II.

Early life and family Sweeny's paternal grandfather, also named Charles Sweeny, was the son of poor Irish immigrants; he made his fortune in mining in the Coeur d'Alene region in Idaho. His father, Robert, was a successful lawyer in Los Angeles, before moving to New York City in 1916 to pursue business opportunities and enlarge the family fortune. One uncle was Charles Sweeny (1882–1963), a soldier of fortune and officer in various armies.

He and his younger brother Robert grew up in Manhattan. the Federated Trust and Finance Corporation of London, and by the late 1920s, had homes in Wimbledon and in 1933 stayed with his friend, the Prince of Wales, ahead of the 1933 Varsity Match against Cambridge. and on February 21, 1933, they were married at the Brompton Oratory, London. Such was the publicity surrounding her Norman Hartnell wedding dress that traffic in Knightsbridge was blocked for three hours.

They had three children: a daughter who was stillborn at eight months in late 1933; daughter Frances Helen (1937–2024), who married Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland, and son Brian Charles (1940–2021). Before these pregnancies, Margaret suffered eight miscarriages.

The Sweenys divorced in 1947.

Second World War With the outbreak of the Second World War, he formed a Home Guard unit, the First Motorised Squadron, composed of American expatriates in London. Then, while his soldier-of-fortune uncle Charles recruited pilots from the still-neutral United States for the French Air Force, he proposed to the Air Ministry the idea of raising an American squadron for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The squadrons were staffed by the few Americans already serving in the RAF and new recruits.

He lived in Mayfair for the last 63 years of his life.

He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery (Plot 119) in a grave shared with his first wife and next to his brother Robert.