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The History of Keystone Helicopter Corporation Keystone Helicopter Corporation was founded in 1953, by Peter Wright, a pioneer of today's modern helicopter industry. Mr. Wright completed his flight training at Pensacola Navy Flight School in 1939, and served as a dive bomber pilot in the Navy. He later joined General Chenault's American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, and attained the rank of major while serving in China. Following a period of employment in general aviation, which included working as sales manager for Frank Piasecki, Mr. Wright started Keystone Helicopter Corporation. In the early days, the company was primarily a flight operations organization, based out of Philadelphia. In 1955, Keystone became involved in foreign operations and, in partnership with Avianca, created Helicol which became the largest rotorcraft operator in South America. A year later Keystone started another venture in South America under the name of Helikey. During subsequent years, Keystone became involved in many diverse operations: heavy-lift, search and rescue missions, high-altitude balloon tracking, NASA-launched capsule recovery, power line patrol, mining and petroleum surveys, forest fire control, aerial mosquito spraying, executive transportation, and program management for the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line in Greenland. In addition, Keystone became one of the first Bell Helicopter service centers in the United States, as the firm became one of the first companies to offer third-party maintenance. In 1981, in response to the demand for emergency medical transport, Keystone started one of the country's first EMS programs at Allentown Sacred Heart Hospital-now the Lehigh Valley Hospital-in Allentown, PA, providing all flight, maintenance and flight management services for the hospital. Celebrating its 50-year anniversary, Keystone has evolved into a modern helicopter support and service company, with one of the largest and most complete helicopter maintenance and overhaul facilities in the United States.
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