Bell Aircraft Corporation, the predecessor of Bell Helicopter Textron was founded July 10, 1935 in Buffalo, New York by Lawrence D. Bell, a man referred to as "America's most seasoned dreamer."

Bell Aircraft Corporation created a Helicopter Division which moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1951 and became Bell Helicopter Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Aircraft Corporation.

When Bell Aircraft moved the helicopter operation to Fort Worth, Texas, all of the initial operations, including flight and maintenance training in the Model 47 took place at a leased facility in Saginaw, Texas just north of Fort Worth. This original plant, which was used for a variety of design, production, testing and training operations was commonly called the Globe Plant. This was a Naval facility that was acquired to manufacture the Cessna "Bamboo Bombers" late in the WW II era.