The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft generally feature one or more large door ...

used for hauling

outsize cargo Outsize cargo is a designation given to goods of unusually large size. This term is often applied to cargo which cannot fit on standardized transport devices such as skids (pallets) or containers. This includes military and other vehicles. In so ...

components. It was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines. Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy". The Super Guppy is the only airplane to carry a complete

S-IVB The S-IVB (pronounced "S-four-B") was the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB launch vehicles. Built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, it had one J-2 rocket engine. For lunar missions it was fired twice: first for Earth ...

stage, the third stage of the

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

rocket. It did so several times during the

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

Design and development

1700 ATG Boeing KC-97G-26-BO Stratofreighter 52-2693

The first Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from a retired USAF Boeing YC-97J Stratofreighter. The fuselage was lengthened to , and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of , the length of the cargo compartment being . The floor of the cargo compartment was still only wide, as necessitated by the use of the Stratocruiser fuselage. In addition to the fuselage modifications, the Super Guppy used Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turboprop engines for increased power and range, and modified wing and

tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...

surfaces. It could carry a load of and cruise at . After a month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25, 1965, when undergoing high speed dives during certification tests. After starting a dive at 10,000 feet the upper fuselage collapsed. The plane had been carrying 30,000 pounds of borate in 100-pound sacks, which were damaged and spilled powder that temporarily blinded the crew. With the help of a

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell A ...

chase plane A chase plane is an aircraft that "chases" a "subject" aircraft, spacecraft or rocket, for the purposes of making real-time observations and taking air-to-air photographs and video of the subject vehicle during flight. Background Safety can ...

, the crew was able to land on the dry bed of

Rogers Dry Lake Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its ...

and save the

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. After that, Guppy's upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although the first Super Guppy also used turboprop engines. However, this variant used Allison 501-D22C engines. Unlike the previous Guppy, the main portion of its fuselage was constructed from scratch. By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to . The overall cargo-compartment length was increased to , and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of . These design improvements, combined with a pressurized crew cabin that allowed for higher-altitude cruising, allowed the SGT to transport more cargo than its predecessors. The SGT retained only the cockpit, wings, tail, and main

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

of the

377 __NOTOC__ Year 377 ( CCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Merobaudes (or, less frequently, year 1130 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominat ...

. The nose gear was taken from a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

and rotated 180 degrees. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, levelling the cargo-bay floor and simplifying loading operations. In the early 1970s, two SGT aircraft were used by

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

to transport airplane parts from production facilities to the final assembly plant in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. In 1982 and 1983, two additional Super Guppy Turbines were built by

Union de Transports Aériens Union de Transports Aériens (; abbreviated as UTA and sometimes known as UTA French Airlines), was a private independent airline in France that operated from 1963 until it merged with Air France in 1992. UTA was formed by the merger of Union ...

Industries in France after Airbus bought the right to produce the aircraft. The four Super Guppies were later replaced in this role by the

Airbus Beluga The Airbus A300-600ST (Super Transporter), or Beluga, is a specialised wide-body airliner used to transport aircraft parts and outsize cargoes. It received the official name of ''Super Transporter'' early on, but its nickname, after the belu ...

, capable of carrying twice as much cargo by weight.

Variants

*Aero Spacelines B-377-SG Super Guppy, prototype of a much enlarged version of the Guppy using C-97J components, powered by four Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turbo-prop engines. *Aero Spacelines B-377-SGT Super Guppy Turbine (Guppy 201), production version powered by Allison 501-D22C turbo-prop engines, using an enlarged cargo section built from scratch instead of being converted from original C-97J components.

Aircraft

One Super Guppy remains in service with NASA. Three are on display, and one was scrapped. *Super Guppy N940NS (previously N1038V), serial number 52-2693, is on display at the

Pima Air & Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over on a campus occupying . It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991. Overv ...

near Tucson, Arizona. *Super Guppy Turbine F-BTGV (formerly N211AS), serial number 0001, was on static display at the former British Aviation Heritage Centre at the

Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately owned former airport near the village of Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire to the south of Leicester. It was opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942. History The aerodrome was originally ...

. The aircraft was broken up in December 2020 with the cockpit preserved by the South Wales Aviation Museum. *Super Guppy Turbine F-BPPA (formerly N212AS), serial number 0002, is on static display at

Aeroscopia Aeroscopia is a French aerospace museum, located at the north-western edge of Toulouse, in the commune of Blagnac. It was opened on 14 January 2015. This museum notably hosts two Concorde airliners. Building Designed by the firm Cardete and ...

near the Airbus factory at

Toulouse–Blagnac Airport Toulouse–Blagnac Airport () is an international airport located west northwest of Toulouse, partially in Blagnac, both '' communes'' of the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region of France. In 2017, the airport served 9,264,611 ...

in France. *Super Guppy Turbine F-GDSG, serial number 0003, is on static display near the Airbus factory at

Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport Airbus Hamburg-Finkenwerder, also known as Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport , is an aircraft manufacturing plant and associated private airport in the Finkenwerder quarter of southwest Hamburg, Germany. The airport is an integral part of the Airb ...

in Germany. *Super Guppy Turbine N941NA (formerly F-GEAI), serial number 0004, is still in service with NASA as a transport aircraft and is based at the

El Paso International Airport El Paso International Airport (EPIA, , ) is an international airport located four miles (6 km) northeast of downtown El Paso, in El Paso County, Texas, United States. It is the busiest commercial airport in West Texas, Southern New Mexico ...

Operators

Current

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Former

* Aero Spacelines * Aeromaritime *

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

Specifications (Super Guppy Turbine)

Aero Spacelines 377SG Super Guppy 3-view

References

Sources

External links

*
Super Guppy website
by NASA Aircraft Operations

by NASA Human Spaceflight

at Boeing.com
AllAboutGuppys.comSuper Guppy F-BTGV restoration project
{{Outsized cargo aircraft Super Guppy NASA aircraft 1960s United States cargo aircraft Four-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Four-engined turboprop aircraft Guppy, Super Aircraft first flown in 1965 Aircraft related to spaceflight