The expert said: “The Bell Jet Ranger helicopters were initially produced when the US army said it was buying light observation helicopters. In the competition Bell lost to Hughes. But, US army officials were unhappy with the performance of the Hughes helicopters and decided to revamp its fleet. In the second phase of the competition, Bell's Jet Ranger helicopters bagged the prestigious deal. One of its earlier variants first flew on January 10,1966 and received the certification of the US Federal Aviation Administration on October 20, 1966.. .. .This so-called expert has his head up-and-locked. The helicopter that Bell proposed in the competition against Hughes was not the Jet Ranger. When Hughes got the contract Bell turned their pug ugly helicopter over to Raymond Loewey Associates who were industrial designers. They completely revamped the design and the Jet Ranger emerged.. .. .Hughes delivered 1400 OH-6s and the Army reopened the contract for a second run of 1400 helicopters and Hughes who has lost their butts on the first run upped the price. The only thing Hughes supplied the Army under the contract was the fuselage and dynamic systems. The Army furnished the engine, the electronics and the instruments. Hughes integrated these materials and then delivered the helicopter to the Army. . .. .The Army was upset that Hughes had increased the unit price and gave the contract to Bell. Bell started delivering OH-58s and they never performed well in the LOACH application. In most case from what I was told most OH-58s were used as personnel transport in Vietnam. The expert got it backwards, as the OH-6 performed better than the OH-58 and from pilots’ perspective it was a lot safer to be in an OH-6 if you had to make a hard landing or if you crashed.. .. .So much for the expert.