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 air cargo, cargo rather than passenger aircraft, passengers. Such aircraft usually ...

that is 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 ex ...

components. It was the successor to the

Pregnant Guppy The Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy was a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft built in the United States and used for ferrying outsized cargo items, most notably components of NASA's Apollo program. The Pregnant Guppy was the first of the Guppy l ...

, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by

Aero Spacelines Aero Spacelines, Inc. was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1960 to 1968 that converted Boeing 377 Stratocruisers into the famous Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy, Guppy line of airplanes, re-engineered to transport oversized cargo such as ...

. 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), J-2 rocket engine. For lunar missions it was fired twi ...

stage, the third stage of the

Saturn V 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, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...

rocket. It did so several times during the Apollo program.

Design and development

The first, the Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

of a C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser, the military version of the 1950s

Boeing 377 Stratocruiser The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Its design was advanced ...

passenger plane. 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 A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

engines for increased power and range, and modified wing and

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...

surfaces. It could carry a load of and cruise at . After a month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25 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 chase plane, 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. After that, Guppy's upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at Edwards Air Force Base. SuperGuppy-F-BPPA

The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although it used turboprop engines like the first Super Guppy. This variant used Allison 501-D22C turboprops. 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 of the 377. The nose gear was taken from a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

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

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

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

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. 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 French airline that was formed in 1963 as a result of a merger between Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) and Transports Aériens Interconti ...

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

Airbus Beluga The Airbus A300-600ST (Super Transporter), or Beluga, is a version of the standard A300-600 wide-body airliner modified to carry aircraft parts and outsize cargo. It received the official name of ''Super Transporter'' early on; however, the nam ...

, 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

Pima Air & Space Museum - Tucson, AZ - Flickr - hyku (79)

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, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus oc ...

adjacent to

Davis–Monthan Air Force Base Davis–Monthan Air Force Base (DM AFB) is a United States Air Force base southeast of downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was established in 1925 as Davis–Monthan Landing Field. The host unit for Davis–Monthan AFB is the 355th Wing (355 WG) assi ...

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

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 origin ...

, United Kingdom. The aircraft was broken up in December 2020, with the cockpit saved by the

South Wales Aviation Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

. *Super Guppy Turbine F-BPPA (formerly N212AS), serial number 0002, is on static display in the Musée Aeronautique

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 facility,

Toulouse–Blagnac Airport Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (french: Aéroport de Toulouse–Blagnac) 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. I ...

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

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 Airbus ...

, 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 Forward Operating Location at the El Paso International Airport, in El Paso, Texas, US. It is the last operational Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in the world.

Operators

Current

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Former

* Aeromaritime *

Specifications (Super Guppy Turbine)

Aero Spacelines 377SG Super Guppy 3-view

References

Bibliography

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