Bell Textron Inc.
Formerly
  • Bell Helicopter Company
  • Bell Helicopter Textron
  • Bell Helicopter
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryAerospace
Defense
PredecessorBell Aircraft
Founded1960 (1960)
Headquarters,
US
Key people
Lisa Atherton [1] (President & CEO)
ParentTextron
Websitewww.bellflight.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, USA as well as commercial helicopters in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada.

History

Bell Aircraft

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.[3]

The Bell 47 is displayed at the MoMA
Previous Bell logo

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.[3] Due to its burgeoning success, the helicopter division relocated as a separate unit to Hurst, Texas in 1951.

Bell Helicopter

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 Huey during the Vietnam War, it had established itself as the largest division of Textron. In January 1976, Textron changed the division's name to Bell Helicopter Textron.[4]

Bell Helicopter had a close association with AgustaWestland. The partnership dated back to separate manufacturing and technology agreements with Agusta (Bell 47 and Bell 206) and as a sublicence via Agusta with Westland (Bell 47).[5] When the two European firms merged, the partnerships were retained, with the exception of the AB139, which is now known as the AW139. Bell and AW cooperated also on the AW609 tiltrotor.[6]

Bell planned to reduce employment by 760 in 2014 as fewer V-22s were made.[6] A rapid prototyping center called XworX assists Bell's other divisions in reducing development time.[7]

The company was rebranded as "Bell" on February 22, 2018.[8]

Product list

Established in 1986, its Mirabel, Quebec facility assembles and delivers most Bell's commercial helicopters and delivered its 5,000th helicopter on December 12, 2017.[9]

Commercial helicopters

ModelIntro.UntilMTOW (lb/t)Notes
Bell 47194619742,9501.34 based on the Bell 30 prototype, piston engine
Bell 47J Ranger195619672,9501.34 Bell 47 executive variant
Bell 204/20519591980s9,5004.31 Huey family civil variant, single turboshaft
Bell 206196720173,2001.45 light single or twin turboshaft
Bell 210??11,2005.08 205B
Bell 2121968199811,2005.08 Civilian UH-1N Twin Huey
Bell 2141972198115,0006.8 larger Huey
Bell 214ST1982199317,5007.94 medium twin derived from the 214
Bell 222/230197919958,4003.81 light twin
Bell 4071995current6,0002.72 four-blade single derived from the 206L-4
Bell 4121981current11,9005.4 four-blade 212
Bell 427200020106,5502.97 407 derived light twin
Bell 429 GlobalRanger2009current7,0003.2 lengthened 427
Bell 430199520089,3004.22 222/230 stretch
Bell 525 Relentless2018current20,5009.3 in development
Bell 505 Jet Ranger X2017current3,6801.67 206 development
Bell Nexus 2020 current pre-production hybrid-electric propulsion system with six tilting ducted fans[10][11][12]

Military helicopters

Tiltrotors

V-22 in flight
V-280 in flight
  • Bell XV-3
  • Bell XV-15
  • Bell Pointer
  • Bell V-247 Vigilant – currently in development
  • Bell V-280 Valor – currently in development, first flown 2017
  • V-22 Osprey – with Boeing BDS
  • TR918 Eagle Eye UAV
  • Quad TiltRotor – with Boeing BDS
  • Bell BAT (1984 tiltrotor project for LHX programme – not built)
  • Bell CTR-1900 (Tilt-rotor project only – not built)
  • Bell CTR-22 (Tilt-rotor project only – not built)
  • Bell CTR-750 (Tilt-rotor project only – not built)
  • Bell CTR-800 (Tilt-rotor project only – not built)
  • Bell D-326 (Clipper 1980 commercial tilt-rotor project – not built)

Projects produced by other companies

Unproduced designs

Facilities

Bell manufacturing and support facilities are:

Military
Commercial

See also

References

  1. "Lisa Atherton Named President and CEO of Bell". April 10, 2023.
  2. "About Textron: Our Businesses". October 21, 2015.
  3. 1 2 History of Bell Helicopter Archived June 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. bellhelicopter.com
  4. "Our History". Bell Training Academy. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  5. "Westland History – Part 4".
  6. 1 2 Oliver Johnson & Elan Head. "Bell CEO outlines European growth plan" Vertical, October 15, 2014. Accessed: October 21, 2014.
  7. "Bell's XworX studying improved rotor blades". Aviation International News.
  8. "Bell Drops 'Helicopter,' Unveils New Dragonfly Logo".
  9. Mark Huber (December 13, 2017). "Bell Canada Delivers 5,000th Civil Helicopter". AIN.
  10. "StackPath". www.intelligent-aerospace.com. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  11. Goldstein, Michael. "Bell Nexus VTOL Air Taxi Makes A Splash At 2019 Consumer Electronics Show". Forbes. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  12. "Smithsonian To Reveal the Bell Nexus 'Air Taxi' at "FUTURES"". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  13. "Bell Helicopter Expands Amarillo Manufacturing". news.bellflight.com/en-US/190850-bell-unveils-new-manufacturing-technology-center. August 10, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  14. "Bell Helicopter Expands Amarillo Manufacturing". www.newschannel10.com. August 12, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  15. Canada, Employment and Social Development (May 19, 2016). "Bell Helicopter Textron Canada relocates assembly program to Quebec". gcnws. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
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