Boeing CH-47 Chinook fires, and supporting petroleum extraction operations. In December 2006, Columbia Helicopters Inc purchased the type certificate of the Model 234 from Boeing. The Chinook has also been licensed to be built by companies outside the United States, such as Elicotteri Meridionali (now AgustaWestland) in Italy and Kawasaki in Japan. The Army finally settled on the larger Chinook as its standard medium-transport helicopter, and as of February 1966, 161 aircraft had been delivered to the Army. The 1st Cavalry Division had brought its organic Chinook battalion when it arrived in 1965 and a separate aviation medium helicopter company, the 147th, had
Boeing Chinook (UK variants) those used by the British armed forces, were grounded due to cracking discovered in the landing gear of a British helicopter during routine inspection. In May 2000, several Chinook helicopters airlifted British and European Union citizens out of Freetown in Sierra Leone in an evacuation due to regional instability. In September 2000 Chinooks were being used to evacuate casualties from fighting in Freetown to RFA "Sir Percivale", a support ship docked there. In July 2006, 3 Chinook helicopters of No. 27 Squadron deployed to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to evacuate British citizens from Lebanon; the squadron also flew the EU