The Hughes 500 helicopter is the most successful product of the Hughes Tool Corporation owned by the American billionaire Howard Hughes (1905-1976), as knowledgeable about aviation as he was eccentric. It is instantly recognized by the egg-shaped fuselage. It was originally conceived by a team led by M.S. Harmed as the Model 369 in response to US Army light observation competition. Characterized by a four-blade main rotor and the simple tail boom, it flew on 27 February 1963 from Culver City, in California. Two years later it won the competition and became the OH-6 Cayuse, but a few years later schedule and price issues led the Army to cancel the contract and switch to its Bell 206 competitor. Production continued for export under the 500-M name. The later D version introduced a five-blade rotor and T-tail, while the E added a pointed nose. About 5,000 Model 369s of all variants have been built in the USA (also under the Mc- Donnell Douglas, Boeing and MD Helicopter brands), Argentina, South Korea, Japan and Italy (by BredaNardi, eventually absorbed by Agusta). The first Italian user was the Treasury Police, followed by the Forestry Corps and the Italian Air Force. The Nardi-Hughes NH-500-MC on display was built at Monteprandone (Ascoli Piceno province) by BredaNardi in 1977 with construction number 28-0281 and military serial MM.81051. It was delivered to the Treasury Police on 19 April 1978 with code GdiF-93 and served initially with the Rome-Centocelle Air Group. Over the next 30 years it flew over 3,000 hours with various Flights Withdrawn in spring 2009, it served briefly as a training aid. It was delivered to the Museum on 21 April 2010.
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