Agusta
| Private | |
| Successor | AgustaWestland |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Defunct | July 2000 |
| Headquarters | Samarate, Italy |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
| Website | Agusta |
Agusta was an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It was based in Samarate, Northern Italy. The company was founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1923, who flew his first airplane in 1907. The MV Agusta motorcycle manufacturer began as an offshoot of the Agusta aviation company at the end of the Second World War as a means to save the jobs of employees of the Agusta firm.
In July 2000 Agusta merged with Westland Helicopters to form AgustaWestland S.p.A., a multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica.
From 1952 the company got involved in helicopter manufacturing, first building Bell helicopters under licence, but later Sikorsky, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas products as well. The company also had ambitions to design and build its own helicopters. The Agusta A.101 and the Agusta A.106 can be considered the best of its earlier attempts. Others included the AB.102, A.103, A.104, and A.115. It also produced a small line of aero engines such as the GA.70 and GA.140.
Developed in the 1970s, the Agusta A109 has undoubtedly been the company's biggest success. The A109 is a commercial and military twin turbine helicopter, of which the latest variants are still in production, hundreds having already been sold.
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Wikipedia