The single-seat test helicopter Bo 103 was built in 1961 by the Bölkow- Entwicklungen KG within the framework of a research order from the German Federal Ministry of Defense (Bundesverteidigungsministerium). As the successor of the so-called Heli-Trainer, this helicopter was also equipped with a single-blade rotor made of fiberglass-plastic.
The new styled glass-fibre rotor blade was constructed so that the offsetting-weight arm of the rotor and the rotor blade itself were made in one piece. This construction enabled a significant improvement in the flight performance. The helicopter for the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) was designed for reconnaissance and command-control purposes. Only the prototype of this model was built. The German Armed Forces was no longer interested in this limited-use, single-seat aircraft. Because of the demand from the civilian sector was also improbable, work on the promising Bo 103 concept was stopped for the time being in 1962.
