Hughes Helicopters

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Not to be confused with
Hughes Aircraft
.

Hughes Helicopters, Inc.
IndustryAerospace
Founded1947; 77 years ago (1947)
Defunct1984 (1984)
FateAcquired by McDonnell Douglas
SuccessorMcDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems
Headquarters
Culver City, California
,
United States

Hughes Helicopters was a major manufacturer of military and civilian helicopters from the 1950s to the 1980s.

The company began in 1947, as a unit of

Hughes Aircraft, then was part of the Hughes Tool Company after 1955.[1] It became the Hughes Helicopter Division, Summa Corporation in 1972, and was reformed as Hughes Helicopters, Inc. in 1981. However, throughout its history, the company was informally known as "Hughes Helicopters". It was sold to McDonnell Douglas in 1984 and made a subsidiary under the name McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, which was later renamed MD Helicopters when McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing
.

History

The Hughes Model 269 was known to the U.S. Army as the TH-55 Osage.

In 1947, Howard Hughes redirected the Hughes Aircraft Company's efforts from airplanes to helicopters. The effort began in earnest in 1948, when helicopter manufacturer Kellett Autogiro Corporation sold their latest design to Hughes for production. The XH-17 "Sky Crane" first flew in October 1952, but was commercially unsuccessful. In 1955 the company began building light helicopters[2] when Howard Hughes split the helicopter production unit from the Hughes Aircraft Co., and reconstituted it with the Hughes Tool Co. as the Hughes Tool Co. Aircraft Division, with a focus on the production of light helicopters.

The

OH-6 Cayuse (Hughes Model 369).[4] The OH-6 was later developed into the civilian Model 500
, variants of which remain in production to this day.

On display in the Phoenix Police Museum is the first helicopter, a Hughes Model 300C, used by the Phoenix Police Department in 1974

In

Bell's YAH-63. First flight of a development prototype occurred in 1977. Also in 1975, Hughes engineers at began concept development work of NOTAR.[6]

In

Model 300C
.

In January

Schweizer RSG
.

Aircraft

Hughes Model 369
An AH-64A on a demonstration flight
Model name First flight Number built Type
Hughes XH-17 1952 1 Experimental heavy-lift helicopter
Hughes 269
 1956 2,800[a] Light utility helicopter
Hughes OH-6 Cayuse 1963 1,420[b] Light observation helicopter
Hughes 500
 1963 4,700[c] Civilian version of Hughes OH-6
Hughes XV-9 1964 1 Experimental high speed helicopter
Hughes AH-64 Apache
 1975 2,400[d] Attack helicopter
Hughes 500 Defender 1976 471[e] Military version of Hughes 500
Hughes MH-6 Little Bird Special operations forces version of Hughes OH-6

Notes

  1. ^ This includes aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas and Schweizer.
  2. ^ This includes aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas.
  3. ^ This includes aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas.
  4. ^ This includes aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.
  5. ^ This includes aircraft built by McDonnell Douglas.

References

  1. ^ Rumerman, Judy. "The Hughes Companies". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007.
  2. ^ Company Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. MD Helicopters. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.
  3. ^ "Hughes Model 269A (TH55) Osage". www.sprucegoose.org. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  4. ^ "The Boeing Logbook: 1964 – 1970". Boeing. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  5. ^ "The Hughes Tool Co. ... Looking at Rotors". Post-War Developments: 1946–1956. Boeing. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  6. ISBN 1-875671-58-7
  7. ^ "The Boeing Logbook: 1977 – 1982". Boeing. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  8. ISBN 0-86101-675-0
    .
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