Textron Inc. was founded in 1923 by Royal Little as Special Yarns Corporation, a textile firm (renamed Atlantic Rayon Corporation in 1935). Under Little it became one of the first American conglomerates, diversifying into aerospace via the 1960 acquisition of Bell Aircraft/Bell Aerospace (including Bell Helicopter) and the 1992 acquisition of Cessna Aircraft from General Dynamics. Today Textron's aerospace/defense businesses include Bell (helicopters/tiltrotor), Cessna and Beechcraft (Textron Aviation), and Textron Systems (unmanned systems, marine craft, armored vehicles).
Identity changes, mergers, acquisitions, splits, and transferred business lines.
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General Dynamics, which had acquired Cessna Aircraft Company in 1985, sold Cessna to Textron Inc. in early 1992 for $605 million, as part of General Dynamics' broader early-1990s divestiture of non-core businesses.
Textron Inc. acquired Bell Aircraft Corporation (by then operating as Bell Aerospace, including the Bell Helicopter subsidiary formed 1957) in 1960, marking Textron's entry into aerospace manufacturing under founder Royal Little.