French designers had been experimenting with helicopters as far back as 1907 and as early as 1937 the German aircraft designer Anton Flettner was building and flying helicopters for the German Army.

European post-war developments were lead by French engineers including work on compressed air tip jet helicopters. Currently the European helicopter industry is made up of two major companies: the Italian company Agusta and Eurocopter a company formed by the merger of the helicopter divisions of Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) from Germany and Aerospatiale from France in the early 90s.

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Agusta-Bell 47G-3B1 Sioux AH Mk.1, XT190, C/n. WA349.
In 1963 several types of helicopter were evaluated at Middle Wallop to find a suitable replacement for the Skeeter and in 1964 the decision that the Agusta-Bell 47G was the winner was made public with an initial contract for 200 aircraft placed shortly afterwards. The first 50 Agusta-Bell 47G-3B1 aircraft were built by Agusta as a 3 seat army observation helicopter powered by one Lycoming TVO-435-B1A 6-cylinder turbo supercharged piston engine. XT190 was built in 1965 at Yeovil, Somerset, and delivered to the Army Air Corps in November 1965, serving in Cyprus with the United Nation Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Head Quarters Flight until being retired in March 1978 and placed in storage. It was acquired by the museum in 1995.

Sud Ouest SO1221 Djinn, 1058/CDL, C/n. FR108.
At the end of the second world war French engineers visited Germany to compare their ideas on jet helicopters with work that had been carried out by the Focke company between 1942 and 1945. This visit was followed by development work which progressed the concept of a rotor system driven by a turbine engine feeding compressed air to the blade tips where fuel was injected and ignited to provide tip jet drive. The Djinn in the collection was built in 1959 at Rochefort, France, and was the 108th production example and the 58th example for the French Army and first flew in April 1959. A light 2 seat observation & casualty evacuation helicopter powered by a Turboméca Palouste turbine engine, the Djinn has been the only tip jet helicopter to go into large scale production. It was also the first French helicopter to enter production, and the worlds first mass produced jet engine powered helicopter. It was retired from operational flying at the end of 1968 and was assigned to a storage facility at Versailles-Satory in 1969. The aircraft remained in storage until 1990 when it was refurbished to static display condition and offered to the museum. After some enforced delays due to the need to obtain a French military export license the aircraft was delivered on 22nd May 1991.

Eurocopter SA365N Dauphin, F-WQAP, C/n.6001.
Original development of the Dauphin was begun in 1960 by Sud Aviation to replace the SA316 Alouette 3. The first design was based on a single development and was eventually to become the twin engine SA365C Dauphin. Further develop included the addition of a "fenestron" tail which offered power and safety advantages over the traditional tail rotor. This had been developed for the SA341 Gazelle in the 1960s. Composite materials were used in the airframe to reduce weight and production costs. The aircraft in the museum collection was donated by the French manufacturer Eurocopter from its test fleet at Marignane in the south of France. The helicopter, the first production Eurocopter SA365N Dauphin, was modified by Eurocopter to test a fly-by-wire flight control system, whereby the conventional mechanical control system is replaced by electrical signals transmitted through light-weight wiring from the cockpit to the rotor system and control surfaces. The aircraft was retired from flying in 2001 and was delivered to the museum in April 2003, delivery of the aircraft to Weston-super-Mare was sponsored by McAlpine Helicopters, based at Oxford, and the publishers of HELICOPTER International magazine, Avia Press Associates.

Sud Aviation SA321F Super Frelon, F-BTRP, C/n. 116.
In the mid 1950s Sud Est began designing a general purpose transport helicopter for the French military, designated the SE3200 Frelon and  which eventually became the SA321 Super Frelon. The SA321F variant held by the museum was designed in the mid sixties as a commercial airliner version and was built in 1967 at Marignane, France as a 34-37 seat civil transport helicopter, powered by three Turboméca Turmo IIIC6 turboshaft engines. The original sponsons were replaced by large external baggage carriers and it was first flown at Marignane in April 1967. The aircraft went on a summer lease during 1968-1969 to Olympic Airways for operations between the Greek mainland and  various islands, but this did not result in any production orders and it was eventually withdrawn from use and placed in storage. In September 1991 it was partially restored by Aerospatiale apprentices and donated to the Helicopter Museum. Subsequently the airframe was moved by road under sponsorship from Bristow Helicopters, with the journey from the South of France to the UK taking seven days. At the time it was the largest helicopter ever to be moved by road within Europe.

MBB Bö.105M, 81+00, C/n
Designed and built by Messerchmitt-Bolköw-Blohm in 1984 more than 1500 Bö.105s were built between 1970 and 1997. Originally developed for civil use by police and air ambulance operators the Bö.105 went on to capture much of the light attack helicopter market in Western Europe. The Bö.105M is an liaison and observation (VBH) helicopter and was operated by the Heeresflieger (German Army Air Corps). One hundred VBH versions were ordered with 81+00 the last to be delivered in 1984, later withdrawn from service in 2002, after servicing with the 25th Air Corps Regiment, based at Laupheim. Most of the Heeresflieger's Bö.105Ms were retired between 2002 and 2005 with Eurocopter donating MBB Bö.105M, 81+00 to the museum in 2007, arriving by road from Donauworth, Germany on 4th May 2007.

EH Industries EH101 G-EHIL/ZH647/C/n. 50003.
This the 3rd prototype, (PP3), was built in 1988 and used extensively for the civil certification flight trial and general development of the EH101 36 seat multi-purpose helicopter. Built in the Westland factory at Yeovil it first flew on 30th September 1988, and powered by three 1920 shp General Electric CT97-6A engines. On completion of it's test programme in February 1999 PP3 had completed 653 flying hours over 581 flights and had helped to develop the AFCS (Automatic Flight Control System) and ACSR anti-vibration systems for the EH101 programme as well as undertaking icing trials in Denmark. Utilised for spares the helicopter was delivered to the museum at the end of 1999 and with a fuselage length of 19.53 m (64 ft) the EH101 is the largest helicopter ever to be moved by road in the UK.

Bolkow Bo.102 Helitrainer, D-HMQV, C/n. 6216.
Built in 1960 at Munich, Germany, as a tethered single-seat helicopter pilot trainer and powered by a single ILO L3 3-cylinder 2-stroke piston engine. The Bo.102 Helitrainer was the first helicopter built by the revived West German industry after the Second World War. The Bo.102 held by the museum is one of approximately 18 built and was acquired from the Hubschrauber Museum in Bückeburg, Germany, in 1981. It was later delivered to Weston-super-Mare in a CH-53G of the West German Army.