50 years ago today, Robert Ferry was preparing to commence his record setting distance flight in the YOH-6A for greatest distance flown, non-stop and un-refuelled, in a rotorcraft. Amazingly, this record still stands today. One engineer at Hughes reckoned at the time that the only way this record could be bettered was if someone could produce a lighter helicopter with similar performance to the YOH-6A. Is it possible that this record will never be broken?
The YOH-6A set a total of 23 FAI world records in March and April 1966 and quite a few still stand today.
500 Fan.
FAI Record File Num #785
Status: ratified - current record Region: World Class: E (Rotorcraft) Sub-Class: E-1c (Helicopters: take off weight 1000 to 1750 kg) Category: General Group: 2 : turbine Type of record: Distance without landing Performance: 3 561.55 km Date: 1966-04-06 Course/Location: Culver City, CA - Ormond Beach, FL (USA) Claimant Robert G. Ferry (USA) Rotorcraft:MDD-Hughes YOH-6AEngine:1 Allison T63-A-5