Original vintage 1960s Viet Nam conflict-era Hughes Helicopters advertisement, featuring the U.S. Military's OH-6A "Cayuse" helicopter - "Tough machine for a tough war."
Dimensions: 8.5 inches wide by 12.50 inches high.
The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. Its formal name is derived from the Native American Cayuse people, while its "Loach" nickname is derived from Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program under which it was procured.
The OH-6 was developed to meet U.S. Army Technical Specification 153, issued in 1960 to replace its Bell H-13 Sioux fleet. Hughes’ Model 369 had a distinctive teardrop-shaped fuselage that was crashworthy and provided excellent external visibility, and its four-bladed full-articulated main rotor made it particularly agile and suitable for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, and observation.
During 1966, the OH-6 began service with the U.S. Army, and promptly entered active combat in the Viet Nam War. It’s straightforward design made it easier to maintain than most other helicopters, and its relatively compact 26 feet (7.9 m) main rotor made it easier to use tight landing zones. While its light aluminum skin could be easily penetrated by small arms fire, it also crumpled and absorbed energy in a crash while the rugged structure protected key systems and its crew.
The OH-6 was relatively difficult to shoot down, and its occupants would often survive forced landings that would have likely been fatal onboard other rotorcraft. Typically missions were flown during the daylight, starting at dawn; common roles included the clearance of landing zones and general intelligence/observation flights.
In theater, the OH-6 was commonly operated in teams with rotorcraft such as the Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, using so-called "hunter-killer" tactics to flush out and eliminate hostile ground targets. The OH-6 would act as bait to draw enemy fire and mark targets for other platforms such as the AH-1 to attack.
In one clandestine incident in 1972, known as the “Vinh Wiretap,” a pair of OH-6As were heavily modified and used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) via Air America to infiltrate Vietnamese high-level military communications, providing valuable intelligence that was used by the U.S on several occasions, such as during the Operation Linebacker II campaign and Paris Peace Talks. From early December 1972, right through the Paris Peace Talk negotiations, and up until May 1973, the tap fed information to the U.S. intelligence community. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger deemed it "excellent intelligence,” even though he "never questioned where it came from."
But the high rate of Hughes OH-6 use during the conflict had a high toll - reportedly, 964 out of the 1,422 OH-6As produced for the U.S. Army were destroyed in Vietnam alone, with the majority being a result of hostile action, typically ground fire. During 1967, the U.S. Army reopened the program to bids for as many as 2,700 additional airframes beyond the 1,300 OH-6s already contracted.
Hughes lost the contract to Bell, resulting in the competing Bell OH-58 Kiowa being produced. The OH-6/Model 369 was subsequently license-produced overseas by the Japanese aerospace company Kawasaki Heavy Industries for both military and civilian operators.
Subsequently, the Boeing MH-6M Little Bird and its attack variant, the AH-6, were designed for use by U.S. Army Special Operations forces – originally based on a modified OH-6A, it was later based on the MD 500E, with a single five-bladed main rotor. The airframe was used extensively in U.S. involvement in Operation Credible Sport, Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Just Cause, the Somali civil war, in support of the Contras in Nicaragua, and throughout the Global War on Terror.
To wit, MH-6 Little Birds were part of the initial assault near the Olympic Hotel in the Bakara Market of Mogadishu, Somalia, conducting rooftop insertions of Delta Force soldiers.
After the shootdown of the MH-60L, call sign "Super Six-One", by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), an MH-6 Little Bird, call sign "Star Four-One," landed in the street next to the downed MH-60 and attempted to evacuate the casualties. The pilot went to assist survivors, successfully pulling two soldiers into the Little Bird, while the copilot laid down suppressive fire from the cockpit with his individual weapon. Under intense ground fire, the MH-6 departed with its crew and survivors.
During the night, AH-6J gunships provided fire support to Rangers and Delta Force operators who were in defensive positions around the crash site of "Super Six-One" and under constant fire from Warlord Mohammad Farrah Aidid's militia members.