Helio Aircraft Company

The Koppen-Bollinger Aircraft Corporation was founded by Otto Koppen and Lynn Bollinger in Massachusetts in 1948 to develop a light STOL utility aircraft. Initially located at Boston Metropolitan Airport in Canton, Massachusetts,{{cite news |last1=Riley |first1=Arthur A. |title=New 'Short Takeoff' Plane Traces Origins to Bay State |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/434399457 |access-date=25 December 2020 |work=Boston Globe |date=10 September 1968 |page=26}} it was renamed the Helio Aircraft Corporation by the time manufacture of the Helio Courier commenced in the early 1950s at a plant in Pittsburg, Kansas.{{cite news |title=Helioplane Really Safe |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/85787282 |access-date=25 January 2021 |work=Terre Haute Tribune-Star |date=10 July 1949 |page=51 |quote=They call their plane a helioplane because it combines the advantages of both the present small plane and the helicopter.}} The plant, located at the Atkinson Municipal Airport was acquired by Helio from Mid-States Manufacturing Company in July 1956 and was almost destroyed by a wildfire in March 1966.{{cite news |title=Helio Purchases Pittsburgh Plant |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/609474622 |access-date=25 November 2019 |work=Parsons Sun |date=27 July 1956 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=SEK News |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/609586860 |access-date=25 November 2019 |work=Parsons Sun |date=4 March 1966 |page=10}} In 1959, the company announced it was moving its factory to Tucson, Arizona.{{cite news |last1=Stirling |first1=Bob |title='Go Ahead' Signal Flashed by Helio |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/581897878 |access-date=26 December 2020 |work=Tucson Daily Citizen |date=25 March 1959 |page=1}}

The business was bought by the General Aircraft Corporation in 1969, was renamed Helio Aircraft Company and continued production until 1974, when General Aircraft commenced legal proceedings against the CIA, alleging that the agency had planned to ruin the business through organizing unlicensed production of the Courier.{{cite news |title=Aircraft Company CIA Spy Cover? |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/105913897 |access-date=25 December 2020 |work=Indianapolis Star |agency=UPI |date=29 November 1976 |page=8}}{{Failed verification|date=December 2020}}

The production rights were sold by General Aircraft to Helio Aircraft Ltd in 1977.{{cite news |last1=Townsend |first1=Lew |title=Helio Makes Comeback |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/696250866 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=Wichita Eagle-Beacon |date=28 March 1983}} Despite an abortive attempt to restart production, the company remained essentially inactive until 1980.{{cite news |title=Helio Aircraft Ready to Start Up Again |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/677258269 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=Kansas City Star |agency=AP |date=16 October 1976}}{{cite news |last1=Townsend |first1=Lew |title=Design Veteran Builds Payload Increase Into Helio's Courier |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/696511677 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=Wichita Eagle and Beacon |date=31 May 1980}} The Courier was returned to production, but only 18 aircraft were built.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} In 1984, the company was forced to lay off 100 workers and the following February it was evicted from its factory.{{cite news |title=Helio Aircraft to Lay Off 100 of Its Workers |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/698405075 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=Wichita Eagle-Beacon |date=16 May 1984}}{{cite news |title=Pittsburgh Company Receives Eviction Notice |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/610280462 |access-date=22 February 2021 |work=Parsons Sun |date=13 February 1985}}

The rights to the Courier and Stallion were bought and sold a number of times more before being purchased by Helio Aircraft LLC of Prescott, Arizona, which announced plans in 2004 to return both types to production.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

File:Helio Courier at Edmonton ca. 1959 (4702200353).jpg

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• {{cite book |last= Gunston |first= Bill |title=World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers |year=1993 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis }}
• {{cite web |last1=Hazeltine |first1=Bill |last2=Mirer |first2=Frank |title=The CIA and the Professors |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01193a000400090001-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123054208/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-01193a000400090001-2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2017 |website=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=26 December 2020 |date=December 1971}}
• {{cite book |last= Simpson |first= R. W. |title=Airlife's General Aviation |year=1995 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |location=Shrewsbury }}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Helio Aircraft Company}}

• [http://www.helioaircraft.com Helio Aircraft LLC website]

{{Helio aircraft}}

Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States

Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1948

Category:1948 establishments in Massachusetts

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts

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