Boeing Vertol Company

The Boeing Vertol Company is a major developer and builder of helicopters.

Vertol had its origin in a group of young University of Pennsylvania engineering students organized in 1940 by Frank N. Piasecki of Philadelphia. The leading members of the group were Piasecki, Venzi and Elliot Daland. The group produced its first prototype, the PV-2, a single-seat helicopter, in the spring of 1943. It was flown publicly on many occasions by Piasecki, the first American to hold a helicopter pilot's license. The group was incorporated in Pennsylvania on January 6, 1943, as the P-V Engineering Forum, taking its name from Piasecki and Venzi. In 1944 the firm secured a contract to design an experimental helicopter for the Navy.

The PV-3 tandem-rotor helicopter made its first flight in March 1945, and early in 1946 Piasecki won a Navy contract for a further refinement, the PD-14. Piasecki obtained new capital from Felix du Pont, Jr. and Laurance Rockefeller, and the company was renamed the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation on May 1, 1946. A factory was built in Morton, Delaware County, in 1946-1947. In 1949 the company leased an additional plant site at the Philadelphia Airport. By 1953 the Piasecki International Corp. had been formed to license the manufacture of helicopters and provide parts and servicing abroad.

The PD-14 evolved into the HRP-1 Rescuer, nicknamed the "Flying Banana." It was followed in 1948 by the HRP-2, an improved design featuring a stressed-skin construction and semi-monococque fuselage. A further refinement, its H-21 Work Horse, followed in 1952, being offered in several models for troop transport and assault and as the PH-42 for civilian service. The more compact HVP-1 Retriever was developed for the Navy in 1948 for ship-based rescue and utility work. The H-25A Army Mule and H-25B Retriever of 1948 eliminated tail fins by the use of a modified Sperry automatic pilot. In 1953 the company produced a much larger version, the YH-16 Transporter, followed in 1954 and 1955 by the YH-16A and YH-16B Turbotransporter, the first twin-turbine powered helicopter in the world.

In 1955, the influence of the Rockefeller group increased and Piasecki was forced out as Board Chairman on April 29, 1955. Piasecki then formed a new company, the Piasecki Aircraft Corporation of Philadelphia, on June 21, 1955. To eliminate confusion, the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was renamed the Vertol Aircraft Corporation on March 9, 1956, the name "Vertol" being derived from "vertical take-off-and-landing." Vertol continued to develop and improve its old designs and worked on a contract with the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Army for the development of a tilting-wing aircraft. On March 31, 1960, the Vertol Aircraft Corporation was acquired by the Boeing Airplane Company of Seattle (which became the Boeing Company on May 4, 1961), and became a division of that company under the name of Boeing Vertol Company. The old plant at Morton was closed, and a large new facility was constructed at Eddystone, Pa., utilizing a portion of the Old Baldwin Locomotive Works.

Vertol produced the Model 44, an improved version of the H-21 Work Horse in 1956. Model 107 followed in 1957, offered in a civilian version and as the Marine Corps CH-46A Sea Knight and other military models. The Army's CH-47 Chinook was first produced in 1961.