Otto Koppen and Lynn Bollinger founded the Koppen-Bollinger Aircraft Corporation in Massachusetts in 1948. The company aimed to develop a light STOL utility aircraft. It started at Boston Metropolitan Airport in Canton, Massachusetts, and later changed its name to Helio Aircraft Corporation. By the early 1950s, Helio began manufacturing the Helio Courier at a plant in Pittsburg, Kansas. Helio acquired this plant, located at Atkinson Municipal Airport, from Mid-States Manufacturing Company in July 1956. In 1959, the company announced it would move its factory to Tucson, Arizona.
The company made several types of aircraft. It started with the Helio Courier, a single-engine utility aircraft, and built about 500 of them. Then, it developed the Helio H-500 Twin Courier, a twin-engine utility aircraft that first flew in 1960, with seven made. The Helio HST-550 Stallion, a single-engine utility aircraft, first flew in 1964, and 20 were produced. The company also created the Helio Rat’ler, a single-engine agricultural aircraft, but only one was built. In 1969, the General Aircraft Corporation bought the business and renamed it Helio Aircraft Company. The company continued to make aircraft until 1974. That year, General Aircraft sued the CIA, claiming that the agency had tried to harm the business by allowing unlicensed production of the Courier.
In 1977, General Aircraft sold the production rights to Helio Aircraft Ltd. After a failed attempt to restart production, the company remained mostly inactive until 1980. The Courier returned to production, but only 18 units were made. In 1984, the company laid off 100 workers and was evicted from its factory the following February. The rights to the Courier and Stallion changed hands several times before Helio Aircraft LLC in Prescott, Arizona, bought them. In 2004, the company announced plans to resume production of both aircraft. However, it struggled to mass-produce the aircraft because of high certification costs and market challenges, but the aircraft’s legacy continues. A different company, Helio Alaska, now owns the type certificates and original blueprints. The company operates from a dedicated facility to make parts and build modern versions of the classic Courier. Read more Forgotten Factories articles HERE.
