1946. Bell's first commercial helicopter crosses the border to Canada

What started out as a fuel consumption test of Bell's new commercially-licensed helicopter ended up as an international flight recently. The ship, flown by Bell's chief helicopter test pilot, Floyd B. Carlson, Jr., was landed at the customs barrier on the Rainbow Bridge, crossing the Niagara River at Niagara Falls, N. Y., where Carlson and D. G. Forman, Bell helicopter division manager, were processed for entry. The flight had been intended as a routine one, but the border crossing was decided on when it was recalled that the aircraft's new license gave it the right to make international flights.