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The Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter
Helicopter

A helicopter is an aircraft that is Lift and propelled by one or more horizontal plane Helicopter rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades....
 manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young
Arthur M. Young

Arthur Middleton Young was an American inventor, helicopter pioneer, cosmologist, philosopher and author. Young was the designer of Bell Helicopter's first helicopter, the Model 30, and inventor of the stabilizer bar used on many of Bell's early helicopter designs....
, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946. More than 5,600 Bell 47 aircraft were produced, including aircraft produced under license by Agusta
Agusta

Agusta is an Italy helicopter manufacturer. It is based in the Varese province of Italy, with its main manufacturing plant being at Cascina Costa....
 in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Kawasaki Heavy Industries

is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chuo-ku, Kobe, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shozo Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kanagawa....
 in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, and Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft

Westland Aircraft was a United Kingdom aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Ltd just before the start of the World War II, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
.






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The Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter
Helicopter

A helicopter is an aircraft that is Lift and propelled by one or more horizontal plane Helicopter rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades....
 manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young
Arthur M. Young

Arthur Middleton Young was an American inventor, helicopter pioneer, cosmologist, philosopher and author. Young was the designer of Bell Helicopter's first helicopter, the Model 30, and inventor of the stabilizer bar used on many of Bell's early helicopter designs....
, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946. More than 5,600 Bell 47 aircraft were produced, including aircraft produced under license by Agusta
Agusta

Agusta is an Italy helicopter manufacturer. It is based in the Varese province of Italy, with its main manufacturing plant being at Cascina Costa....
 in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Kawasaki Heavy Industries

is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chuo-ku, Kobe, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shozo Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kanagawa....
 in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, and Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft

Westland Aircraft was a United Kingdom aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Ltd just before the start of the World War II, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
. The Bell 47J Ranger
Bell 47J Ranger

The Bell 47J Ranger is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the highly successful Bell 47,...
 is modifed version with a fully enclosed cabin and fuselage.

Design and development

Bell47j
Early models were variable in appearance, with open cockpit
Cockpit

A cockpit is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin....
s or sheet metal
Sheet metal

Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes....
 cabins, covered or open structures, some with four-wheel landing gear. Model D and Korean War types settled to a more utilitarian style. The most common model, the 47G introduced in 1953, can be recognized by the full bubble canopy
Canopy (aircraft)

An aircraft canopy is the transparent enclosure over the cockpit of some types of aircraft. The function of the canopy is to provide a weatherproof and reasonably quiet environment for the aircraft's occupants....
, exposed welded-tube tail boom, saddle fuel tank
Fuel tank

A fuel tank is safe container for flammable liquids and typically part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled or released into an engine....
s, and skid landing gear.

Later 47H had a regular cabin with full cowling and monocoque
Monocoque

Monocoque, from Greek language for single and French for shell , is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin....
 tail boom. Engine
Engine

An engine is a mechanical device that produces some form of output from a given input.An engine whose purpose is to produce kinetic energy output from a fuel is called a Wiktionary:prime mover; alternatively, a motor is a device which produces kinetic energy from a preprocessed "fuel" ....
s were Franklin
Franklin Engine Company

The Franklin Engine Company was a manufacturer of aircraft engines. The company was formed as Air Cooled Motors in 1937 in aviation when a group of ex-employees of the bankrupt Franklin purchased the assets of the company....
 or Lycoming horizontally-opposed piston engine
Reciprocating engine

A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion pistons to convert pressure into a Circular motion....
s of 200 to 305 HP
Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several non-International System of Units units of power . It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses....
 (150 to 230 kW
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
). Seating varied from two to four. Many are still in use as trainer
Trainer (aircraft)

A trainer is an aircraft used to develop piloting, navigational or war-fighting skills in flight crew.Civilian pilots are normally trained in a light aircraft, with 2 or more seats to allow for student and instructor....
s and in agriculture
Agricultural aircraft

An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use - usually aerial application of pesticides or fertiliser ; in these roles they are referred to as "crop dusters" or "top dressers"....
 (as of 2005).

H-13 were produced in Japan by a Bell and Kawasaki venture; this led to the Kawasaki KH-4
Kawasaki KH-4

The Kawasaki KH-4 was a light utility helicopter produced in Japan in the 1960s as a development of the Bell 47 that Kawasaki had been building under licence since 1952....
 variant, essentially a three seat version of the Model 47.

Operational history


The Bell 47 helicopter entered U.S. military service in late 1946, in a variety of versions and designations for three decades. In the Korean War
Korean War

The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korea and South Korea regimes, with major hostilities lasting from June 25, 1950 until the armistice signed on July 27, 1953....
, it was designated the H-13 Sioux
H-13 Sioux

The H-13 Sioux was a two-bladed, single engine, helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. Westland Aircraft manufactured the Sioux under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2....
 by the United States Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
. It has also served as the helicopter of choice for basic helicopter flight instruction in many countries.

NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
 had a number of Bell 47s during the Apollo program, used by astronauts as a trainer for the Lunar Lander
Apollo Lunar Module

The Apollo Lunar Module was the Lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the United States Apollo program by Grumman to achieve the transit from cislunar orbit to the surface and back....
. Eugene Cernan had a near disastrous accident shortly before his flight to the moon on Apollo 17
Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh Human spaceflight in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a United States human spaceflight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program....
 by crashing one into the Indian River
Indian River (Florida)

The Indian River is a waterway in Florida, a part of the Indian River Lagoon system which forms the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends from the border between Brevard County, Florida and Volusia County, Florida Counties southward along the western shore of Merritt Island, picking up the Banana River on the island's south side, then...
.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department in California used the Bell 47 as the department's very first aircraft in 1957.

Records

  • 13 May 1949, a Bell 47 set an altitude record of 18,550 feet (5,650 m).
  • 21 September 1950, first helicopter to fly over the Alps.
  • 17 September 1952, Bell pilot Elton J. Smith set a world distance record of 1,217 mi (1,959 km), by flying nonstop from Hurst, Texas to Buffalo, New York.


Variants

Section source: Aviastar

Civilian


Bell 47: Pre-production version, powered by a 133-kW (178-hp) Franklin piston engine. Bell 47A: Improved version of the Bell 47, powered by a 117-kW (157-hp) Franklin O-335-1
Franklin O-335

The Franklin Engine Company 6AC was a series of air-cooled aircraft engines of flat-6 configuration. These engines were commonly vertically-mounted and used to power many early helicopters in the US....
 piston engine. Bell 47B: Equivalent to the military YR-13/HTL-1, powered by the Franklin O-335-1
Franklin O-335

The Franklin Engine Company 6AC was a series of air-cooled aircraft engines of flat-6 configuration. These engines were commonly vertically-mounted and used to power many early helicopters in the US....
 piston engine. Bell 47B-3: Agricultural/utility version with open crew positions. Bell 47C Bell 47D: First to appear with a moulded 'goldfish bowl' canopy. Bell 47D-1: Introduced in 1949, it had an open tubework tailboom reminiscent of the Bell Model 30, ship number 3, and a three-seat configuration. Bell 47E: Powered by a 149-kW (200-hp) Franklin 6V4-200-C32 engine. Bell 47F

Bell 47G: Combines a 149 kW Franklin engine with the three-seat configuration of the 47D-1 and introduced the saddle-bag fuel tank configuration. Bell 47G-2: Powered by the Lycoming VO-435
Lycoming O-435

The Lycoming O-435 is a six-cylinder , flat engine fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engine made by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O-290....
 engine. Produced under license by Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft

Westland Aircraft was a United Kingdom aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Ltd just before the start of the World War II, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915....
 as the Westland Sioux, for the UK military. Bell 47G-2A: Powered by a 179 kW version of the VO-435. Bell 47G-2A-1: Wider cabin, improved rotor blades and increased fuel capacity. Bell 47G-3: Powered by a supercharged 168 kW Franklin 6VS-335-A. Bell 47G-3B: Powered by a turbocharged 209 kW Avco Lycoming TVO-435. Bell 47G-4: Three-seat helicopter powered by an Avco Lycoming VO-540
Lycoming O-540

The Lycoming O-540 is a family of six-cylinder , flat engine fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of 541.5 cubic inch displacement, made by Lycoming Engines....
 engine. Bell 47G-5: A three-seat, utility version. A two-seat agricultural version was later known as the Ag-5. The 47G-5 was the last model to be produced by Bell. Bell 47H-1: A three-seat version with an enclosed cabin and fuselage. Bell 47J Ranger
Bell 47J Ranger

The Bell 47J Ranger is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the highly successful Bell 47,...
: A four-seat version powered by an Avco Lycoming VO-435 engine.

Military

See H-13 Sioux
H-13 Sioux

The H-13 Sioux was a two-bladed, single engine, helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. Westland Aircraft manufactured the Sioux under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2....


Licenced versions


Agusta A.115
Agusta A.115

The Agusta A.115 was a prototype helicopter flown in 1971 in Italy. It was essentially a Bell 47 with an unclad, tubular tail boom, and powered by a Turbom?ca Astazou II turboshaft engine. No production ensued....
:1971 Italian prototype of a Bell 47J with an unclad, tubular tail boom, and powered by a Turboméca
Turbomeca

Turbomeca is a France manufacturer of low- and medium-power gas turbine turboshaft engines for helicopters. The company also produces gas turbine engines for aircraft and missiles, as well as turbines for land, industrial and marine applications....
 Astazou II turboshaft engine Meridionali/Agusta EMA 124
Meridionali/Agusta EMA 124

The Meridionali/Agusta EMA 124 was a light utility helicopter flown in prototype form in Italy in 1970. The design was undertaken by Agusta for production in a joint venture with Elicotteri Meridionali, based on the Bell 47 that Agusta was building under licence at the time....
: Italian prototype with redesigned forward fuselage. Not produced. Kawasaki KH-4
Kawasaki KH-4

The Kawasaki KH-4 was a light utility helicopter produced in Japan in the 1960s as a development of the Bell 47 that Kawasaki had been building under licence since 1952....
: Japanese production version with redesigned, lengthened cabin, and redesigned control system

Conversions

Carson Super C-4
El Tomcat Mk.II
Continental Copters El Tomcat

The Continental Copters El Tomcat was a 1950s United States single-seat agricultural helicopter converted from a Bell 47 by Continental Copters of Fort Worth Texas....
Bell 47G-2 modified extensively for agricultural spraying by Continental Copters Inc. First flew in April 1959. Followed by further improved versions.


Operators


Government operators

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  • Carabinieri
    Carabinieri

    The Arma dei Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both the military and civilian populations. The Carabinieri is now a branch of armed forces , thus ending their long standing role as the first corps of the Italian army....


Survivors


  • The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
    Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

    The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum 's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly, Virginia area of Fairfax County, Virginia, Virginia, United States....
    , Washington Dulles International Airport
    Washington Dulles International Airport

    Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport located 25 miles west of the central business district of Washington, D.C., in Dulles, Virginia ....
     in Chantilly, Virginia
    Chantilly, Virginia

    Chantilly is an unincorporated community located in western Fairfax County, Virginia and southeastern Loudoun County, Virginia of Northern Virginia....
    , includes a Bell 47 and the Bell Model 30 predecessor.
  • The Alberta Aviation Museum
    Alberta Aviation Museum

    The Alberta Aviation Museum is a museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is located on-site at the Edmonton City Centre Airport CYXD on the southwest corner of the field ....
     in Edmonton, Alberta is restoring a 47G Model.
  • The Museum of Modern Art
    Museum of Modern Art

    The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, USA, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues....
     (MoMA) in New York City
    New York City

    The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
     has a on permanent display.
  • Adventure Aviation in Tauranga, New Zealand uses a Bell 47G in a "M*A*S*H" paint scheme for tourist scenic flights.


Specifications (Bell 47G-3B)


Popular culture

Bell 47g Mash


The Bell 47 appeared, and played key roles, in film and television productions. It has been associated with both the M*A*S*H film, and the M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H (TV series)

M*A*S*H is an United States television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 in film feature film MASH . The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced by 20th Television Fox for CBS....
 television series, and the Whirlybirds
Whirlybirds

Whirlybirds was a U.S. television show that aired from 1957 in television to 1960 in television with a total of 111 episodes. The show was about Chuck Martin and P.T....
 TV series (1957–1959).

See also


Bibliography

  • Mutza, Wayne. H-13 Sioux Mini in Action. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-89747-329-0
  • McGowen, Stanley S. Helicopters: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Weapons and warfare series. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2005. ISBN 1851094687* pp. 21-26.*
  • United States, Headquarters Department of the Army, Army Concept Team in Vietnam. Final Report of Essential Load of Scout Helicopters. Saigon, Vietnam: Army Concept Team in Vietnam, 1966.


External links

  • Enthusiast site
  • Museum site
  • from The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley