Established in 1926 as a business based on a patented mechanical timing device, Fleetwings reorganized in 1929 as Fleetwings, Inc. and began to manufacture airplanes and aircraft components. Based in Long Island, New York, the company moved to a factory along the Delaware River (previously Keystone Aircraft Corp.) that was located in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1934. The location of the Bristol factory was desirable as Fleetwings intended to develop a line of amphibious planes. Since few airstrips existed at the time, many in the industry predicted that the future of flight was in planes that could touch down on water.

Business for Fleetwings ramped up in the early 1940s, especially as Fleetwings began receiving military contracts during World War II. Henry J. Kaiser's Kaiser Industries acquired Fleetwings in 1943, renaming the company Kaiser-Fleetwings Corporation. The Kaiser-Fleetwings XBTK, a dive and torpedo bomber developed for the United States Navy starting in 1944, is its best-known product. Employment at the Kaiser-Fleetwings plant reached its peak in 1944 with over 6,300 employees, but business dropped precipitously after the end of World War II, and again after the Korean War. The company was forced to close its doors in 1962.

James M. (Jim) Shimer, Jr. (1914-2007) was born in Philadelphia and attended Frankford High School. He earned a degree in Industrial Design from the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts) in 1937. Soon after, he married Dolly E. Lashley, with whom he had three children. During World War II, Shimer was employed as Assistant Supervisor in the Graphic Art Department at Fleetwings, Inc. After the war, he worked as a technical illustrator in the Aviation Armament Laboratory at the Naval Air Development Center (Johnsville, Pa.) before returning to Kaiser-Fleetwings during the Korean War. In his position as Supervisor of the Graphic Art Group, Shimer prepared technical illustrations to assist in the production of Republic-F-84F fuselages and Martin B-57 wings, among other projects. He retired from Kaiser-Fleetwings in 1955 and moved on to positions preparing technical materials for various other companies. He was a long-time member of the Naval Institute, USAF Museum, American Aviation Historical Society, and the Reading Railroad Technical and Historical Society, among other associations.