| Name | Location | Description | Owners |
| Aerospatiale | France: Toulouse | French aerospace manufacturer, founded in 1970 from the state owned companies Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and Société d'études et de réalisation d'engins balistiques (SÉREB). Aerospatiale worked with Westland on the Lynx, Gazelle and Puma helicopter designs. In 1992, DASA (a German aero company) and the Aerospatiale helicopter divisions were merged to form the Eurocopter group. | Company merged into Eurocopter group. |
| AgustaWestland | Italy / United Kingdom. | Formed in 2000 by a merger of Agusta and Westland. The company was originally owned by Finmeccanica and GKN plc, each holding a 50% share. | Since May 26th 2004, AgustaWestland has been completely owned by Finmeccanica (Italy). |
| NH Industries | | NH Industries was established by Agusta, Eurocopter and Stork Fokker Aerospace. NH Industries was responsible for the development of the NH90 helicopter. | Agusta, Eurocopter and Stork Fokker Aerospace. |
| Bell | USA: Fort Worth, Texas | Manufacturer of military and civil helicopters and tilt rotors. The company was founded in 1935 as the 'Bell Aircraft Corporation'. In 1941, Bell started to develop helicopters. Bell Helicopter always had a close relationship with Agusta. Bell produced the first FAA certified helicopter for civil use (model 47) and the almost famous model 205, better known as the 'Huey'. Since 1976, the company’s name has been 'Bell Helicopter Textron'. | Textron, from 1960 until now. |
| BellAgusta | USA: Fort Worth, Texas | BellAgusta Aerospace company is a joint venture formed in 1998 between Bell Helicopter Textron and Agusta (now AgustaWestland), the purpose of which was the development of the BA609 Civil Tiltrotor aircraft. | Bell Helicopter Textron and AgustaWestland. |
| Boeing | USA: Chicago, Illinois | Boeing is a major aerospace and defence company. It acquired the Vertol Aircraft Corporation in 1960 and turned it into their Vertol Division. The CH-47 Chinook is produced by this division. Boeing is currently developing the V-22 Osprey (a VTOL airplane) in conjunction with Bell Helicopter Textron. | Share holders. |
| Brantly International | USA: Vernon, Texas | Brantly Helicopter Corporation was set up in the 1950s. Brantly himself designed the B-1, B-2 and Brantly 305 models. The Brantly designs changed hands many times. In 1996 Brantly International started production of the B-2B. | Privately held company. |
| Bristol Aeroplane Company | United Kingdom: Filton, England | Bristol Aeroplane was a British aviation company. Bristol designed and produced a few helicopter models: Type 171 Sycamore and the Type 171 and 193 Belvedere. | Merged in 1959 into British Aircraft Corporation. |
| Denel Ltd. | South Africa: Centurion, Gauteng | Relatively new South African Government dominated conglomerate in the military-industrial field, which was formed in 1991. Amongst its wide range of products, it developed the Rooivalk attack helicopter. | South African Government. |
| Doman Helicopters Inc. | USA: Connecticut | Doman Helicopters Inc. was founded in 1945. The purpose of the company was to exploit several patents created by Douman, who was a former Sikorsky employee. | |
| Westland Helicopters | United Kingdom | Westland Helicopters was formed from Westland Aircraft and several other British firms in 1961. In 2000, it merged with Agusta (Italy) to form AgustaWestland. Over the years, Westland has worked with Sikorsky, Bell, Aerospatiale and Agusta (building helicopters by licence, improving existing designs, and working together). An important Westland design is the Lynx helicopter. | Company merged into AgustaWestland. |
| Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm | Germany | In 1989 MBB was acquired by DASA. Later DASA merged with Aerospatiale to form Eurocopter (1992). One of its well known helicopter models is the BO 105, used as a light utility helicopter. | Merged into DASA, which merged in Eurocopter. |
| EH Industries Limited | United Kingdom: London, England | Joint venture between Westland aircraft and Agusta (starting in 1979) created solely to develop the EH101 helicopter. In 2004 the parent companies merged and NHI was renamed AgustaWestland International Limited. In 2007, the EH101 was rebranded as the AW101. | AgustaWestland |
| Enstrom Helicopter | USA: Menominee, Michigan | Enstrom Helicopter was founded in 1959 by Lumberjack and mechanic Rudy Enstrom. The familiar F-28 model was FAA certified in 1965. F. Lee Bailey bought the company in 1970. | Privately owned company |
| Eurocopter | France: Marignane | Eurocopter was founded in 1992 from the merger of Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG (DASA) and the helicopter divisions of Aerospatiale. It produces many models, both for military and civil use. | EADS |
| Piasecki Aircraft Corporation | Essington, PA 19029, USA | In 1955 Piasecki left Piasecki Helicopter Corporation and started Piasecki Aircraft Corporation. Currently, Piasecki is focusing on the development of Vector Trusted Ducted Propeller (VTDP) compound helicopter technology with the X-49A demonstrator (a modified Sikorsky YSH-60F Seahawk). | |
| Gyrodyne Company of America | USA: New York | Gyrodyne was founded in 1946 by Peter J. Papadakos. Gyrodyne developed helicopters with co-axial rotor systems. After the death of Papadakos, Gyrodyne stopped developing helicopters and turned to property rentals. | Not relevant anymore. |
| Hiller Aircraft Corporation | | In 1942 Stanley Hiller founded the Hiller Aircraft Corporation. In 1948 the company was renamed Hiller Helicopters. In 1964 Fairchild acquired the company. Stanley Hiller bought it back in 1973. In 1994, the Hiller Aircraft Corporation was founded by Jeffrey Hiller (son of Stanley Hiller) and a consortium, to repurchase assets from the Rogerson Hiller Corporation. Well known model (and look alike of Bell model 47) is the OH-23 / UH-12E. | |
| Hughes Helicopters | USA: Culver City, CA and Mesa, AZ | Hughes Helicopters was started in 1947 as a part of Hughes Aircraft (the company founded by Howard Hughes). In 1972 it became the Summa Corporation, and in 1981 the company was reformed as Hughes Helicopters. Hughes also licensed Schweizer Aircraft to produce the model 300C. Hughes Helicopters was acquired by McDonnall Douglas in 1984. The well known McDonnall-Douglas Apache attack helicopter was known as the Hughes model 77 helicopter. | McDonnall-Douglas |
| Kaman Aerospace | USA: Connecticut | This company was founded by Charles Kaman in 1945. In the first 10 years, Kaman operated exclusively as a helicopter design and manufacturing company. Later Kaman diversified into other markets (subcontracting, and musical instruments, the latter of which was sold to Fender in 2007). Nowadays Kaman is still active in the military and civil helicopter market. The Seasprite and K-MAX are familiar Kaman helicopter designs. | Share holders in the stock market. |
|