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.
Billy Chinook in the Oregon Country. Chinook was an orphan and lived at the mission. In the summer of 1843, then-Lieutenant John C. Frémont and Kit Carson visited the present-day Bend, Oregon and The Dalles, Oregon areas. Chinook was 16 to 19 years old at the time and was recruited by Frémont as a guide. The Frémont expedition (Frémont's second) then explored central Oregon and the Klamath Basin, and further into present-day Nevada and California areas through July 1844. In 1845 Frémont traveled to Washington, D.C. with Chinook. While there, Frémont awarded a medal to Chinook which bore the likeness of the