Originally Posted by
500 Fan
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the helicopter we know simply as “The 500”.
The 27th of February 1963 saw test pilots James Vittitoe and Raleigh Fletcher perform the first flight of a compact little egg-shaped helicopter at the Hughes Tool Company’s facility at Culver City in California. The YOH-6 was one of three entrants in the US Army’s “Light Observation Helicopter” contest for a new scout helicopter for the Army. The Army only purchased just over 1,400 helicopters but it has since gone on to be one of the legends of rotary-winged aviation.
The 500 has starred on the big screen and small. Probably one of the most recognisable helicopters ever was a candy-striped 500D that flew in Hawaii in the 1980’s in support of a certain mustacheoed P.I.
Thank you for a fantastic thread and starting post. I always enjoyed Magnum PI and especially any scenes with TC and the 500, my favourite being the one where he went off the rails for an old mate and ended up face to face with an AH1 Hueycobra. I tried to find the scene on Youtube but couldn't.
Equal best scenes featuring Hughes 500s would be in the awesome film
Blackhawk Down.