Bristol Aeroplane Company - Helicopter Division

The Bristol Aeroplane Company's Helicopter Division had its roots in 1944, when the helicopter designer Raoul Hafner, released from the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE), came to Bristol along with some members of his team. Under Hafner's direction, the Helicopter Division produced two successful designs that were sold in quantity. The first, designated the Type 171, had a shaky start after the wooden rotor blades of the second prototye failed on its first flight in 1949. Nevertheless, the Type 171, called Sycamore in military service, was sold to air forces around the world and 178 were built in total.

After the Type 171, the Bristol Helicopter Division started work on a tandem rotor civil helicopter. The result was the 13-seat Type 173, which made its first flight in Filton in 1952. Five examples were built for evaluation purposes. Although no airlines ordered the Type 173, it led to military designs, of which the Type 192 went into service with the RAF as the Belvedere. First flying in 1958, 26 were built in total.

Pursuing the idea of a civil tandem rotor helicopter, Hafner and his team developed a much larger design, the Type 194. The Type 194 was in an advanced state of design when the Bristol Helicopter Division was merged, as a result of government influence, with the helicopter interests of other British aircraft manufacturers (Westland, Fairey and Saunders-Roe) to form Westland Helicopters in 1960. This meant the Type 194 was in competition with Westland's and Fairey's large helicopter designs such as the Westland Westminster and the Fairey Rotodyne. The Type 194 project was cancelled.

The Helicopter Division started out at the main Bristol Aeroplane Company site in Filton, but from 1955 it was moved to the Old Mixton factory in Weston-Super-Mare, which had been used to build Blenheims during the War. The Bristol Helicopter Division's factory in Weston-Super-Mare is now the site of the The Helicopter Museum.