Hughes Helicopters

Hughes Helicopters was the American rotorcraft maker that grew out of Howard Hughes's decision in 1947 to redirect the Hughes Aircraft Company toward helicopters. It began with the giant XH-17 research machine, became a unit of the Hughes Tool Company in 1955 and then concentrated on light helicopters, first the Model 269 and later the OH-6 Cayuse and the civil Model 500. In the 1970s its Model 77 won the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter competition and became the AH-64 Apache, built at a new plant in Mesa, Arizona from 1983. The firm was reformed as Hughes Helicopters, Inc. in 1981 and sold to McDonnell Douglas in January 1984, after which it was renamed McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems. Its designs have since been built by Boeing, MD Helicopters and Schweizer.