Building Bell’s Legacy: Four Generations. One Family.

At Bell, innovation is in our DNA. We are always working to find a better way as we redefine the future of flight.

From Bell’s early years to today, the Kaiser family has been part of our company story. Steven Kaiser, a senior engineer and youngest of four generations of family serving Bell, unveiled the origin of the passion that inspired him.

Steven recalls hearing stories about the family trailblazer, Elbert Oscar Derry Berry, who started a career at Bell Aircraft in the early 1950s. He worked as a flight line mechanic during the height of Bell’s Huey production that followed the Vietnam War.

Not too long after Berry, Steven’s grandfather, Owen Kaiser, or Pop-pop, as Steven knows him, joined Bell.

“Looking back on it, he spent 37 years with the company and had the opportunity to work through various Bell milestones,” said Steven. After he contributed to the Vietnam Huey production line, Bell’s turbine integration work and V-22 nacelle efforts, Owen decided to retire. Yet to this day, Owen shares his deep-rooted passion for aviation and Bell with everyone around him.

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Fast-forward to the years of AH-1W flight testing. Mike Kaiser, Steven’s father, found his niche in the field of flight testing. In the late ‘80s to early ‘90s he spent his time training pilots on the digital avionics in the new Cobra models.

“I will never forget the day that my Dad hovered over my house in an AH-1W and waved at me from the pilot’s seat,” Steven recalls. “I just knew his job was cool and that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.” A few years after Mike started at Bell, his brother David Kaiser, was also hired as a transmission bench test engineer.

As for Mike, he continued working at Bell for 21 years. During his tenure, he met his future wife Marie, who worked in Rotor Stress for six years.

Steven recalls the family connection between Marie’s father, Tony, and Mike’s father, Owen. “Tony worked at Lycoming Engines, while my grandfather worked at Bell. Come to find out Tony and Owen worked alongside each other on turbine projects before my parents ever met.”

With a family history deeply rooted in aviation and Bell, it comes as no surprise that the fourth- generation Kaiser has found his place at Bell. Steven draws his inspiration from the family members who served as Bell employees before him and continues to make his mark at Bell by leading aviation solutions that will benefit generations to come.  

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Bell has a rich history of generational employees working together. Visit our Careers page to start your legacy.

 

About Bell

Thinking above and beyond is what we do. For more than 85 years, we’ve been reimagining the experience of flight – and where it can take us.

We are pioneers. We were the first to break the sound barrier and to certify a commercial helicopter. We were a part of NASA’s first lunar mission and brought advanced tiltrotor systems to market. Today, we’re defining the future of advanced air mobility.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas – as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., – we have strategic locations around the globe. And with nearly one quarter of our workforce having served, helping our military achieve their missions is a passion of ours.

Above all, our breakthrough innovations deliver exceptional experiences to our customers. Efficiently. Reliably. And always, with safety at the forefront.

About Textron

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat, and Textron Systems. For more information, visit: www.textron.com.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders; our ability to keep pace with our competitors in the introduction of new products and upgrades with features and technologies desired by our customers; changes in government regulations or policies on the export and import of our products; volatility in the global economy or changes in worldwide political conditions that adversely impact demand for our products; volatility in interest rates or foreign exchange rates; and risks related to our international business, including establishing and maintaining facilities in locations around the world and relying on joint venture partners, subcontractors, suppliers, representatives, consultants and other business partners in connection with international business, including in emerging market countries.

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