Among the largest Western-built helicopters ever, the Chinook is instantly recognizable thanks to its tandem rotor configuration, which features two rotors mounted one in front of the other. This is opposed to the standard helicopter configuration of a main rotor stabilized by a tail rotor
What’s there to say about the Black Hawk that hasn’t already been said? It’s the helicopter of choice for special forces of every kind, from the Navy SEALs to the Special Troops Command (Polish special forces) to the Australian SAS and countless others
The family’s been around since the first flight of the first XH-40 prototype back in October 1956, and Bell churn out new members of the family on a regular basis
Also known by its NATO name Halo, the Mi-26 is famous for being the world’s heaviest helicopter to have gone into mass production. What’s more is that it’s also the world’s largest too
A helicopter in service for the last 35 years, the Apache has become synonymous with the attack class of helicopters and modern helicopter warfare as a whole
On March 8 1946, the Bell 47 made history by becoming the first helicopter certified for civilian use by the FAA. In effect, every civilian helicopter that’s followed has done so on the Bell 47’s coattails
A development of the equally famous R22, the Robinson R44 is among the most produced helicopters ever. More specifically, it is the world’s most produced general aviation (GA) helicopter, holding that record every year from 1999 to date
When Bell and Boeing teamed up in 1983 to produce a tiltrotor military aircraft, the aviation community balked at the idea. They said it couldn’t be done, no matter how confident both firms were and the previous successes Bell had with tiltrotor technology
Like many helicopters with a nearly 50 year-long service history, the AW109 has done a lot. Originally designed as a multipurpose commercial helicopter, the AW109 has been used as everything from a newscopter to SAR to military helicopter