WOW! Time goes by so fast. Almost the end of June 2024 and start of summer. Have you purchased your personal copy of The Bell 47 Helicopter Story? It has been for sale for over 10 years now. This is hard to believe. Stocks are getting low so now is your chance to buy before they are all gone. The Bell 47 book will NOT be reprinted. For customers in Canada and the USA you can now purchase at the price of only $89.95 dollars INCLUDING shipping. The Post Office is planning on increasing shipping by the end of the year in 2024. Get your copy now before shipping costs go up. The Bell 47 Story IS the most detailed publication out there with plenty of photos  never seen before. I am confident that readers will learn something new in this book about the iconic Bell Model 47 that they did not know. There will never be a book published in the future on the Bell 47 helicopter with as much detail, new data and amazing never before seen photographs. The Bell 47 helicopter was the first commercial rotary wing aircraft in the whole world.

Work continues on my next book on the History of Helicopters and Other Rotorcraft in Canada covering the piston age up to the start of the turbine age in the mid-1960s. I am always looking for historical photographs and related data to add to the story. Please contact me at the Helicopter Heritage Canada website. All photos will be digitized and returned to the individual senders. Your help is very much appreciated. 

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with an early Associated Helicopters pilot Mr. Graham Hansen who was trained by Tellef Vassjo chief pilot for the company. Hansen is 95 years old and learned to fly helicopters back in 1956. He loaned me his log books and many slides taken during his career flying helicopters.

I recently received log book entries from an early Kenting's  pilot Charlie Parkin who trained on the Sikorsky S-51 back in 1950 for the Deportment of Transport first helicopter from his son in Ontario. Charlie was trained on helicopters by Al Soutar back in 1948.

Today's feature story is about Phil Fillingham who learned to fly Royal Navy wartime Sikorsky R-4 helicopters in England just after the war. He later immigrated to Canada flying for Spartan Air Services. Phil moved to the USA first flying for Petroleum Helicopters and later other operators across the United States. I got to know Phil very well each year at the helicopter conventions  in the USA.

Top photo is Phil Fillingham next to a Royal Navy Sikorsky R-4 over in England around 1948. Bottom photo Phill Fillingham on the left next to author Bob Petite at a helcopter convention in the USA.

Enjoy the story.

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