[1][2] Switzer's attendance at university was interrupted during his second year by the Second World War, where he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940 as a pilot, attaining the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

[1][3] During the war, Switzer was sent to RCAF Station Borden for training, and piloted the Hawker Typhoon with the 193 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force based out of England and later France, in a low-level ground-attack role.

[2] Switzer was part of the July 14, 1944 attack on German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel when his and another aircraft diverted after sighting two enemy staff cars.

Adolf Hitler later provided Rommel with a choice to commit suicide, following his alleged role in the Valkyrie assassination attempt, with the German public told he died of wounds from the incident.

He initially ran for the Alberta Legislature in the 1952 and 1955 general elections as a candidate for the provincial Liberal party in the electoral district of Edson.

He ran as a candidate in a by-election held on March 29, 1965, in the Edson electoral district, following Norman Willmore's death in a car accident.

[7][8] Switzer faced Reimer again, as well as Social Credit candidate Arthur Jorgensen, in the 1967 general election for a seat in the 16th Alberta Legislature.