Brantly Helicopter The company started out 1945 as
Brantly Helicopter Corporation in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, founded by
Newby O. Brantly. 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 with
coaxial rotors made its
first flight. 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, made its first flight 1953. In 1957 the company moved to
Frederick, Oklahoma, where the B-2 was certified in 1959. He later designed the
Brantly 305, a five-seater which made its first flight 1964. It was certified by the
FAA in 1965, the same year it entered production.
Lear Jet acquired the Brantly Helicopter Corporation in 1966; at this time the factory in
Frederick, Oklahoma had 100 employees. The factory moved to
Wichita, Kansas 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 who also owned
Enstrom Helicopter Corporation 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. The factory at the Wilbarger County Airport closed at the end of 2010, and engineering and administrative offices of Brantly moved to
Coppell, Texas. Not many helicopters were sold in the last years of manufacturing in Texas. The
Aerospace Industries Association (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. ==Products==