On July 9, the Bell Training Academy (BTA) opened the Floyd Carlson Airfield located on the corner of Trinity Boulevard and Greenbelt Road to give BTA pilots and customers quick and easy access to training fields.
The airfield offers a raised landing platform and runways for training critical normal and emergency procedures, including full touchdown autorotations – a world-recognized differentiator of Bell’s customer training experience. What better way to start a new chapter in our flight school’s history than to dedicate the field to our very first training pilot, Bell said.
Every company begins with a pioneer, who takes smart risks to further the advance of science and technology in hopes of changing the world. While Lawrence D. Bell led the new frontier into vertical lift technology, his journey to make the impossible possible required many partners. One of these partners, a true pioneer, was Floyd Carlson, chief helicopter test pilot of Bell.
Carlson took his first flight in Bell aircraft on June 2, 1942, in a Bell P-39D Airacobra. Since then, he performed the first flight of every Bell helicopter designed and built, up to his retirement.
Going on to become the most experienced and renowned helicopter pilot in the world at the time, Carlson amassed a total of 3,628 flight hours of which 1,313 hours were in experimental and production helicopters. His mastery of vertical flight led to the CAA certification of the Bell Model 47, the world’s first commercial helicopter. And the rest, as they say, is Bell history.
Today, our world-renowned academy is eager for new pioneers, from training pilots to customers, to experience the thrill of flying Bell in a new location dedicated to a true aviation innovator, said Bell. We welcome all guests to come and experience the new airfield by registering for the BTA’s various learning opportunities.
My grandfather would be proud! I know I am proud of him and all his accomplishments in aviation. Certainly a very proud day for the Carlson family.
Sincerely,
David Carlson and the Carlson family.
So blessed to see that grandpa’s legacy will go on.
Dad would be happy to be remembered. Bell was his life and therefore a big part of our family’s life. As a teenager I spent a lot of time at the Hurst plant as well as at the Arlington airport. Good memories.
A great tribute to a true pioneer.
My mother press secretary forthe Bell aircraft test pilots including Floyd Carlson. I have a picture of him from around 1943. I was wondering if you would like me to email a copy or you probably already have some. There are about four women who work there and I was wondering if you have any pictures of them including my mother.
I saw him on What’s My Line? in 1956. He flew Desi and Lucy somewhere and Desi was a panelist. It made sense he lived in Richland Hills, TX, which is near the Bell Helicopter HQ. He was a brave man to be pioneering such a dangerous profession.