Bell Helicopter Textron: Leading the Market in Helical Aviation

Bell Helicopter Textron was founded in July of 1935. This company’s legacy began under the name Bell Aircraft Corporation by founder Larry Bell. The company was founded just prior to World War II and in 1942, their first full size helicopter, the Model 30, took flight.  From there they began their success in civil and military aviation. Today, they are headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas with their Chief Executive Officer John Garrison leading the way. Bell Helicopter has additional plant locations in Amarillo, Texas and Mirabel, Canada. Bell Helicopter is ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100:2009 Rev. C registered. According to the financial reports of 2013 Bell Helicopter was reported to earn revenue of $12,104 million. Bell Helicopter manufactures multiple helicopters. Each helicopter has its own purpose. They are broken down by category:

• Mission Applications - Corporate, HEMS, Oil & Gas and Parapublic
  • Bell 206L4
  • Bell 407
  • Bell 429
  • Bell 412
• Commercial - These helicopters are meant to be reliable, aesthetically pleasing and performance impressive:
  • Bell 206L4
  • Bell 407
  • Bell 407GT
  • Bell 407GX
  • Bell 412
  • Bell 412EPI
  • Bell 429
  • Bell 429WLG
  • Bell 505
  • Bell 525
  • Bell Huey II
  • Pre-Owned Helicopters
• Military - Their military aircraft are built to help save lives and provide a unit with speed and exceptional performance.
  • Bell Boeing V-22
  • Bell UH-1Y
  • Bell AH-1Z
  • Bell OH-58D
  • Bell V-280

Bell Helicopter services customers in over 120 countries and has delivered over 35,000 helicopters. Studies have shown that nearly 60% of all helicopters produced around the world are produced by Bell Helicopter. Bell has the ability to hold onto the market because they own 50 US patents. Forecasting the future success of this company, Textron made the decision to purchase Bell Aerospace in 1960 and in January of 1976 Bell renamed their company to Bell Helicopter Textron. Textron is a billion dollar publicly traded company under the symbol TXT. As of July 2014, stock was sold at $37.71. In 2013, their revenue was listed at $3.506 billion US. Textron is an S&P 500 Company who also owns companies like Cessna, Greenlee, Jacobson and others. Recently, Bell announced that they will be assisting Team Valor in designing and manufacturing a new helicopter named the Bell V-280 Valor™, replacing 2,000 to 4,000 medium class attack helicopters for the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense. Team Valor consists of leading aerospace companies working together to fulfill the needs of the U.S. Army. Some of the companies included on Team Valor are EATON, Lockheed Martin, Lord, Meggitt, MOOG and more. Currently the U.S. helicopter fleet cruises at 140 knots and the new aircrafts are to be increased to 230+ knots. It will carry crews of 4 and 11 troops, carry up to 12,000+ lbs and maintain a combat range of 500-800nm. This fleet is estimated to take its first flight in 2017. This new project, along with many others will keep Bell Helicopter in business for years to come.

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1. john parker
2. Posted on November 19, 2014
aviation parts

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