MH-6 Little Bird: An EGG You don't Want to Mess With

I sure did love flying this helicopter. Six Guns Don’t Miss! You can read more about flying the Killer Egg in my book Death Waits in the Dark.

The company I worked for used civilian models for inspection and maintenance of transmission lines. Most of the pilots are ex-military pilots and deserve every penny they get along with our respect.

One of the best features of this little bird isn't mentioned in the video - easy of maintenance on the field.

Currently there is nothing out there that can replace the Little Bird. As a former MH-6 driver with over 30 years flying military and civilian helicopters I have yet to come across a platform that meets or exceeds the special mission needs of the SOAR in the way the battle proven Little Bird has.

Our armored cavalry squadron air troop in Vietnam had the first versions of these. They were used as very low-level aerial scouts. The scouts were actually outside the bird standing on the landing skids. Very dangerous work.

Man; the little bird is so beautiful truly a work of art

I love these little eggs. I could tell you stories from 2007 in Baghdad that would pin your ears back. These choppers should have a place in US SOF units until 2040. They're THAT good.

No mention of crash survivability? One of its best features. Thanks Howard Hughes.

I can remember very clearly being introduced to these in Iraq, as a Brit we were used to lynx/puma/Dauphin's, then we met this little bastard and couldn't understand why we didn't have them. They do the lot. I can't see what would ever replace these and still be as effective, to me there a total win.

Just like the A-10 there's nothing that can do these jobs if they are replaced.. MH-6 and A-10's should stay for a long time.

In Vietnam they were designated as LOH (light Observation Helicopter) 6 A . We called them Loach. The pilots loved them.

Been working on 500’s, mechanic, for over 20 years and I can tell you their is nothing out there that can do what the fighting egg can do let alone replace it. LOVE IT!

For Special Forces there are unique considerations. Just being C-130 transportable is hugely valuable. The agility and rotor diameter are valuable for many urban missions. The development of laser-guided 70 mm rockets has made light attack helicopters much more deadily as CAS assets as well.

I wish our Military masterminds would remember, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! Upgrades cost less than replacements.

I'm pretty ignorant, but I remember seeing helicopters like this, in my late teens (mid '70's) at air shows - performing in pairs and doing completely amazing flight patterns. To my memory, it was called (then) the Hughes 500D. I think a version without a tail rotor was developed (NOTAR) that used ducted gasses out moveable vents at the end of the tail boom to counter the torque from the main rotor. Love it.

The original Magnum P.I. (1980-88) was the Hollywood show that brought the Little Bird to the masses, although it was the civilian model shown every episode, the military version was shown several times in Vietnam flashbacks.

Love this chopper! If I wanna live and die in a "bird" it would be this one!

The T63 is the smaller version of the Allison and was used in the early OH6 versions. It is rated at 317 hp, 420 hp, or 450 hp depending upon the model. The larger version of the Allison is the T703 rated at 650 hp. In fact the latest engines no longer carry the military designations. They are commercially certified through the FAA and sold to the military. The current engine is the Model 250-C47M (there maybe a minor change in designation since I was involved in the development of the C47M in the mid 1990s). I was a design engineer in the Model 250 design group from 1991-1997 and was heavily involved in the development of this derivative engine. The C47M has an increased flow compressor giving it thermodynamic power of 803 hp which is flat rated to 650 hp for this application. That gives it tremendous hot and high performance. We used this same core in the 250-C40B for the Bell 430. I redesigned the gearbox to use more of the thermodynamic power to provide a 715 hp take off rating. It was also capable of 820 hp for 30 seconds in a "one engine inoperative" emergency situation. The same core also went into the 250-C47B used in the Bell 407 and the 250-C30R/3 used in the OH58D Kiowa Warrior. The requirements for the OH58D dictated the ability to hover at 4000 ft on a 95° day at max gross weight. That usually meant a full armament load and a Special Ops squad. The compressor was designed to meet this requirement then was used in the other models. The edits were to correct several typos. Sometimes Google's auto correct gets the best of me...

I love the little bird. Black hawk down had these, amazing little machines.

The old movie “Birds of Prey” with David Jansen comes to mind. He plays a radio station traffic Reporter flying a civilian version of a Little Bird. He also was ( in the movie) a former Flying Tiger Pilot & there are a few scenes where he has a flashback of those days. Pretty cool movie for being from the early 1970’s!