Brantly International Inc. is an American

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

company with its engineering and administrative offices based

Coppell, Texas Coppell ( ) is a city in the northwest corner of Dallas County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is a suburb of Dallas and a bedroom community in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 42,983 at the 2020 census. A small area in the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Manufacturing of Brantly-designed helicopters is now carried out by Qingdao Haili Helicopters of China.

History

Flugausstellung Hermeskeil Brantly B2 - Flickr - KlausNahr

Brantly Helicopter

The company started out 1945 as Brantly Helicopter Corporation in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, founded by

Newby O. Brantly Newby Odell Brantly (April 13, 1905 – July 19, 1993) was an American inventor, engineer and entrepreneur who founded the Brantly Helicopter Corporation. Life Born in Newport, Texas, Newby Brantly was the son of William Franklin and Ida Mae ...

. Brantly was so impressed with the Sikorsky VS-300 that he decided to design his own helicopter. In 1946 his first helicopter, the

Brantly B-1 The Brantly B-1 was a 2-seat, coaxial-rotor helicopter designed by Newby O. Brantly and constructed by the Pennsylvania Elastic Company, Brantly's employer. Design and development In 1946, Brantly started flight testing the B-1 prototype (NX691 ...

with

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...

rotors made its

first flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

. The B-1 was not put into production. Using lessons learned from the B-1, he decided to build a two-seater with a simple rotor design. This helicopter, the

Brantly B-2 The Brantly B-2 is an American two-seat light helicopter produced by the Brantly Helicopter Corporation. Design and development After the failure of his first design, the Brantly B-1, Newby O. Brantly decided to design a simpler and less complic ...

, made its first flight 1953. In 1957 the company moved to

Frederick, Oklahoma Frederick is a city and county seat of Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,940 at the 2010 census. It is an agriculture-based community that primarily produces wheat, cotton, and cattle. Frederick is home to three dai ...

, where the B-2 was certified in 1959. He later designed the

Brantly 305 The Brantly 305 is an American five-seat light helicopter of the 1960s. It is an enlarged version of the Brantly B-2 which was produced by the Brantly Helicopter Corporation. Design and development The five-seater Model 305 helicopter is based ...

, a five-seater which made its first flight 1964. It was certified by the

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

in 1965, the same year it entered production. Brantly 305 G-ASXF Kidlington 29

Lear Jet acquired the Brantly Helicopter Corporation in 1966; at this time the factory in

had 100 employees. The factory moved to

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

in 1969. Aeronautical Research & Development Corporation (ARDC) bought all the rights to Brantly helicopters from Lear Jet in 1969, but they ended operations in early 1970.

Brantly-Hynes

In 1972, the rights were acquired as Brantly Operators Inc. by Michael K. Hynes. He renamed the company in 1975 as Brantly-Hynes Helicopter Inc. Later that year, the Franklin Capital Corp, headed by

F. Lee Bailey Francis Lee Bailey Jr. (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal defense attorney. Bailey's name first came to nationwide attention for his involvement in the second murder trial of Sam Sheppard, a surgeon accused of murdering ...

who also owned

Enstrom Helicopter Corporation The Enstrom Helicopter Corporation is an American helicopter aerospace manufacturer, based at the Menominee–Marinette Twin County Airport in Michigan, United States. The company was founded in 1959 by mining engineer Rudolph J. "Rudy" Ens ...

at that time, purchased the company. Brantly-Hynes originally were just providing product support but later placed the B-2 and 305 back into production.

Brantly International

The new factory in Vernon was built 1989 by Japanese-American businessman James T. Kimura, who renamed the company as Brantly International. In 1994, the ownership was transferred to a Beijing-based company, FESCO. In 1996, they achieved an

production certificate. In 2007, Cheng Shenzong, referred to as the "helicopter king" in China, acquired a major interest in the company, and a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between Brantly International Inc, Qingdao Wenquan International Aviation Investment Co., Ltd, and Qingdao Brantly Investment Consultation Co., Ltd. was established. The factory at the Wilbarger County Airport closed at the end of 2010, and engineering and administrative offices of Brantly moved to

. Not many helicopters were sold in the last years of manufacturing in Texas. The

Aerospace Industries Association The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is an American trade association representing manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, material, and related c ...

(AIA) statistic for US Civil Helicopter Shipments between 1981 and 2007 showed 12 delivered B-2Bs. Qingdao Haili Helicopters Co. Ltd. is now the only manufacturer of the B-2B helicopter.Qingdao Haili Helicopter Co.,ltd

Products

* 1946 -

* 1953 -

: pre-production version. ** Brantly B-2A: basic production version. ** Brantly B-2B: improved version of the B-2, fitted with new metal rotor blades and an uprated fuel-injected 180 hp Lycoming piston engine. This is the only version currently available. ** Brantly B-2J10: projected tandem-rotor version with longer and wider fuselage for carrying passengers and/or cargo. None built. * 1964 –

: an enlarged B-2.

References

External links

Brantly International website
{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Helicopter manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Coppell, Texas