Boeing engine started in 1943 and Boeing's gas turbines were designated models 502 (T50), 520 (T60), 540, 551 and 553. Boeing built 2,461 engines before production ceased in April 1968. Many applications of the Boeing gas turbine engines were considered to be firsts, including the first turbine-powered helicopter and boat. Vertol Aircraft Corporation was acquired by Boeing in 1960, and was reorganized as Boeing's Vertol division. The twin-rotor CH-47 Chinook, produced by Vertol, took its first flight in 1961. This heavy-lift helicopter remains a work-horse vehicle to the present day. In 1964, Vertol also began production of the CH-46 Sea Knight.
Avro Canada Chinook Avro Canada Chinook The Avro Canada TR.4 Chinook was Canada's first turbojet engine, designed by Turbo Research and manufactured by A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. Named for the warm Chinook wind that blows in the Rocky Mountains, only three Chinooks were built and none were used operationally. The Chinook was nevertheless an extremely successful design in terms of introducing new concepts and materials, and after being scaled up from to , would go on to become one of the early jet age's most respected designs, the Orenda. In late 1942 the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) sent Dr. J.J. Greene