Hughes OH-6 Cayuse

The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse, company Model 369, is a single-engine light helicopter built for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter program, which gave it the Vietnam-era nickname Loach. The first prototype flew on 27 February 1963, the Army awarded a production contract in May 1965 and the helicopter entered service in 1966. Its teardrop-shaped fuselage earned it the name flying egg and was credited with unusually strong crashworthiness. When the Army reopened bidding in 1967 the contract for the larger follow-on order went to Bell and its OH-58 Kiowa, but 1,420 OH-6As were built and Kawasaki produced 387 under license in Japan. Armed and transport OH-6As became the AH-6 and MH-6 Little Birds of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and the design was developed into the civil Model 500, sold as the MD 500.