United Helicopters was formed in 1945 as a joint venture between Stanley Hiller and Henry Kaiser. The company made a very wide range of helicopters, including the world's first successful two-seat co-axial helicopter and several single-seater "commuter" helicopters.
The company was also notable for making military helicopters, however, including the UH-12/H-23. While Bell Helicopter's notable UH-1 contains the United Helicopter prefix "UH", it actually competed directly against United's "Ten99" and UH in that case was its military designation and not the Bell's designation.
The company lives on as Hiller Aircraft. The Hiller Aviation Museum has several United Helicopter prototype helicopters available for display.
Famous quotes containing the word united:
“An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)