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.
Birdman Chinook WT-11 across the width of Australia from Orange, New South Wales to Perth, Western Australia, in 14 days and 49 flying hours, a distance of . In 1993 a Rotax 582-powered Chinook Plus 2 on skis and Full Lotus Floats was used by the National Geographic Society in filming a television special about marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic. Birdman Chinook The Birdman Chinook is a family of single and two-place, pusher configuration, high-wing ultralight aircraft that was first flown on 12 December 1982 and produced by Birdman Enterprises of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada starting in 1983. The Chinook design has