BOEING/VERTOL

Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, previously known as Boeing Helicopters and Boeing Vertol, is an American rotorcraft aircraft manufacturer now functioning as the Vertical Lift division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company’s primary rotorcraft factory and headquarters are situated in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Apache attack helicopter production formerly under Rotorcraft Systems in Mesa, Arizona is now managed by the Global Strike Division of Boeing Military Aircraft. Boeing Vertol was founded in 1960 after Boeing acquired the Vertol Aircraft Corporation, formerly Piasecki Helicopter of Morton, Pennsylvania. The name is an abbreviation for Vertical Take Off and Landing, and other names used by the division over the years include “Boeing Aircraft Company, Vertol Division” and “Boeing Philadelphia.” The company’s notable products include the CH-46 Sea Knight and the CH-47 Chinook, which have been generated by the former Boeing Helicopters and Boeing Vertol respectively. The name changed to Boeing Helicopters in 1987, followed by the current name in 2002. In 1997, after a merger with McDonnell Douglas, Boeing Helicopters assumed command of former Hughes Helicopters operations in Mesa, Arizona. Boeing sold the civilian line of helicopters to MD Helicopter Holdings Inc. in 1999 and sold the Type certificate of the Boeing Vertol 107-II and Boeing Model 234 Commercial Chinook to Columbia Helicopters of Aurora, Oregon by December 2006. In the 1970s, Boeing Vertol forayed into the railroad rolling stock market to keep government-funded contracts, manufacturing the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system for West Virginia University and the 2400 series Chicago ‘L’ cars for the Chicago Transit Authority. The company attempted to create the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle, marketed as the Boeing LRV, but the vehicle’s many problems led to Boeing’s ending rail production and the premature retirement of the vehicles.