Buford John Schramm (14 October 1938 – 28 April 2004), better-known as B.J. Schramm, was a businessman and developer of light personal helicopters. He was killed in the crash of a single-seat helicopter of his own design near Montour, about six miles southwest of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho.[1][2] Schramm founded RotorWay Aircraft in 1961, a kit helicopter manufacturing company. At the time of his death he operated a company called Eagle R&D, based in Caldwell, Idaho, manufacturing a kit helicopter called the Helicycle.
Schramm was the founder of a non-ferrous metal foundry that supplied materials to Bell, Hughes, Sikorsky, Motorolla as well as his own helicopter businesses.[3]
Schramm was posthumously inducted into the Experimental Aircraft Association Homebuilder's Hall of Fame in 2006, although he was not a member of that organization at the time of his death.[4]