[3] More than 5,600 Bell 47s were produced, including those under license by Agusta in Italy, Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan, and Westland Aircraft in the United Kingdom.

The most common model, the 47G introduced in 1953, can be recognized by the full "soap bubble" canopy,[4] exposed welded-tube tail boom, saddle fuel tanks and skid landing gear.

[8] The Bell 47 entered US military service in late 1946, and operated in a variety of versions and under different designations for three decades.

It was designated H-13 Sioux by the US Army, and during the Korean War, it served a variety of roles, including reconnaissance and scouting, search and rescue, and medevac.

When the television station reported it was receiving no video, Silva exited the helicopter's cockpit to climb onto its landing skid while it hovered at 1,500 feet (457 m) so he could investigate the microwave transmitter bolted to its side, where he discovered a vacuum tube had failed due to vibration and hot weather.

After Silva fixed the problem overnight, the Telecopter made the world's first successful television news flight on July 4, 1958.

[9] The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had a number of Bell 47s during the Apollo program, used by astronauts as trainers for the lunar lander.