Bell Helicopter Textron
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas, United States |
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Key people
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Mitch Snyder, President & CEO |
| Products | Helicopters, tiltrotors |
| Parent | Textron |
| Website | http://bellhelicopter.com |
Bell Helicopter is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A division of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft in and around Fort Worth, as well as in Amarillo, Texas, and commercial helicopters in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada. Bell provides training and support services worldwide.
The company was founded on July 10, 1935 as Bell Aircraft Corporation by Lawrence Dale Bell in Buffalo, New York. The company focused on the designing and building of fighter aircraft. Their first fighters were the XFM-1 Airacuda, a twin-engine fighter for attacking bombers, and the P-39 Airacobra. The P-59 Airacomet, the first American jet fighter, the P-63 Kingcobra, the successor to the P-39, and the Bell X-1 were also Bell products.
In 1941, Bell hired Arthur M. Young, a talented inventor, to provide expertise for helicopter research and development. It was the foundation for what Bell hoped would be a broader economic base for his company that was not dependent on government contracts. The Bell 30 was their first full-size helicopter (first flight December 29, 1942) and the Bell 47 became the first helicopter in the world rated by a civil aviation authority, becoming a civilian and military success.
Textron purchased Bell Aerospace in 1960. Bell Aerospace was composed of three divisions of Bell Aircraft Corporation, including its helicopter division, which had become its only division still producing complete aircraft. The helicopter division was renamed Bell Helicopter Company and in a few years, with the success of the UH-1 during the Vietnam War, it had established itself as the largest division of Textron. In January 1976, Textron changed the name of the company again to Bell Helicopter Textron.
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