A first, for me.

[Tulio]

A little over an hour ago, I saw in flight for the first time in my life, NASA's Super Guppy.

I have seen it static at Ellington field, but not flying until now.

It flew West-East alongside I-10, near the Brookshire International Spaceport, Taco Stand and burro parking lot.

I took -pitiful- pictures with my cel phone.


Saludos,


Tulio

Last edited by Tulio on Tue Mar 09, 2021 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Hooligan2]

Amazing sight isn't it? I saw the Aeromaritime Guppies flying several times in the 1970s and 80s - their Airbus replacements (seen distantly) aren't a patch on the original Conroy concept!

[67N20]

Was doing some touch and goes at EFD about an hour ago.

[67N20]

Oops. Double post.

Last edited by 67N20 on Mon Mar 08, 2021 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Pogo]

A buddy of mine flew it quite a bit, said it's a great flying airplane. All cables though, so it's a workout.

[ZRX61]

It flew into Plant 42 last week & taxied over to Northrop's ramp instead of the usual haunt at the NASA facility on the other side of the field. Stayed for a couple of days.

[p51]

Saw it at Boeing Field when NASA delivered the shuttle FFT to the museum there. Two times ago in Houston, they must have had some kind of event somewhere as I saw it and one of the WB-57s flying overhead...

[sledge39]

The first time I saw a "Guppy", it was this one...

...The first "Guppy"...the "Pregnant Guppy"...

01 377PG N1024V, a take-off at Ontario (ONT) 1965

02-03 At Steward-Davis, Long Beach (LGB) 1964

Attachments

[Michel Lemieux]

This is one of those odd bird that may have extra lift.....from the fuselage sides....hehe.....

Let's not get into a technical weight and drag discussion here.....must have been quite an experience to captain it!

Cheers....

[Hooligan2]

Has it ever been used to lift anything into Groom Lake?

[marine air]

I think the only Guppies still flying are the turboprop variants. Also, in the background of one picture are two Connies and a civilian Fairchild C-82 Packet. The C-82 was a forgotten WW II predecessor to the C-119 Flying Boxcar.

[sandiego89]

In the last photo from sledge it is the first time I have really noticed the braces, tow bars and wheels used to open the swinging tail of the Pregnant Guppy. I wonder how log it took to get everything set up and opened up?

I believe all the later Guppies had the swing nose (which I still cant fathom how the hinge is able to keep everything all together, it just looks like it would be too flimsy for the job)

[bdk]

Looks the same for the pilots out of the window as a KC-97!

.....must have been quite an experience to captain it!

[Archer]

In the last photo from sledge it is the first time I have really noticed the braces, tow bars and wheels used to open the swinging tail of the Pregnant Guppy. I wonder how log it took to get everything set up and opened up?

I haven't checked, but there is a fair chance that this website will have the answer to your question: http://www.allaboutguppys.com/
I found it a while ago and spent a fair amount of time browsing the various Guppy stories and photos.

[CAPFlyer]

In the last photo from sledge it is the first time I have really noticed the braces, tow bars and wheels used to open the swinging tail of the Pregnant Guppy. I wonder how log it took to get everything set up and opened up?

I believe all the later Guppies had the swing nose (which I still cant fathom how the hinge is able to keep everything all together, it just looks like it would be too flimsy for the job)

It's amazing how light the section moving actually is, so the need for strength is only to hold the unsupported portion of the weight. On the Original B377PG, the swing tail was supported on that tricycle-style set of rollers, bearing the majority of the weight of the tail section, and there were jacks placed on pads fitted to the bottom of the fuselage just forward of the split. Also, the Pregnant Guppy's tail came completely off. It was not swung like later designs. This was required because of the size of the S-IVB stage and transporter. There was simply no way to get the tail far enough out of the way. There is a picture on Allaboutguppys.com showing the tail pulled away while attached to a tug.

The later MiniGuppy was the only Guppy built with a swing tail. It had a fold-down "landing gear" that came out of the tail to support it during swing/loading operations. However, with the MiniGuppy Turbine, they went back to the nose-swing since it could utilize the nose landing gear as the support, although a couple also had additional "gear" that was deployed or installed during loading to help level the swing section. All of the swing-fuselage Guppys also have in-built jacks in the fuselage at the split that are lowered to both help level and support the fuselage when the nose or tail is swung open.