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]

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]

Commercial helicopters

Gallery

• Bell 206B JetRanger III
• Comparison of the Bell 212 (U.S. Navy HH-1N) and 412 (Mercy Air) at the Mojave Airport
• Bell 412EP Griffin HT1 helicopter of the UK Defence Helicopter Flying School
• Bell Nexus ‘Air Taxi’ at Smithsonian in 2022
• Bell Nexus ‘Air Taxi’ at Smithsonian in 2022

Military helicopters

• Bell H-12
• Bell H-13 Sioux
  • Bell XH-13F
• Bell XH-15
• Bell HSL
• Bell UH-1 Iroquois (or Huey)
  • Bell Huey family
  • Bell UH-1 Iroquois variants
• Bell UH-1N Twin Huey
• Bell YHO-4
• Bell 207 Sioux Scout – experimental attack helicopter
• Bell 533 – experimental Huey variant with increased performance
• Bell AH-1 Cobra
• Bell AH-1 SeaCobra/SuperCobra
• Bell 309 KingCobra - experimental attack helicopter
• YAH-63/Model 409 – competitor with the YAH-64 for Advanced Attack Helicopter program
• Bell OH-58 Kiowa
• H-1 upgrade program
  • Bell UH-1Y Venom
  • Bell AH-1Z Viper
• Bell CH-146 Griffon
• Bell ARH-70 Arapaho - cancelled armed reconnaissance helicopter
• Bell 360 Invictus - proposed armed reconnaissance helicopter

Tiltrotors

• 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

• AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter (formerly 50-50 as the Agusta-Bell AB139, now 100% AgustaWestland)
• AgustaWestland AW609 tiltrotor (formerly 50-50 as the Bell-Agusta BA609, now 100% AgustaWestland)
• Lockheed Martin VH-71 Kestrel