Our Chopper gains quite a lot of interest from far and wide. She is a very unusual find and we feel very privileged to be looking after her for her owner.

Chopper sits in our museum with 40 other military vehicles from the Sherman Tank to Jeeps that have been used as props on many Hollywood Blockbusters. But there will be more of those in our blog during the weeks to come. Today it is the turn of Chopper. Here is a little of her story and history…

Our fine example of a Bell 47G helicopter was built at Bell Aircraft’s Buffalo Plant near Niagara Falls in New York State on 15th May 1947. She was originally registered NC120B and constructed as a Bell 47B.

She first flew for Alaska Airlines and was based at Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska. In 1951, she was converted to a 47D1. Before being exported to the UK in 1962, she flew for AG Helicopters of Pasadena, California for crop spraying. She was converted to her current configuration at about that time.

After all these years, she still retains her original wooden blades and it was from the distinct chopping sound of these blades in flight that the nickname ‘chopper’ came about. In 1946 the Bell 47 was the first helicopter in the world to receive commercial build certification by any aviation authority. This particular Bell 47 was constructed within a year of that certification.

On the 15th May 2012, she was 65 years old and that makes her one of the oldest flying helicopters in the world.

As well as our tank driving, paintballing and tank paintball experience days, our museum is open all year around. Give us a call or head on up the track to see us. It would be great to tell you more about our Chopper.

See more in our Military Vehicle Museum