Warbird Information Exchange

You ought to see a CONNIE on short final/touchdown-

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The only Super Guppy I have seen still had the real engines (recip) on it. It came and picked up a Grumman Goose to transport it to the Smithsonian.

The runway was 5000' at the time, so they towed it out and backed it up until the wheels were about to touch the threshold lights, fired it up, did a run up, went to T.O power and released the brakes. Pretty much used it up.

Hmmm...I've heard a different history of the "tent". A very new(about 300hrs.) 757 ran off the EFD runway almost totaling the aircraft out. Boeings solution was the "big tent" where they could perform the extensive repairs. When they were done, they were going to demolish the structure but NASA ended up buying it from them instead.

We sure see the Guppy around here a lot. It doesn't seem to make much sense to home it in El Paso..whut with the cost of fuel these days....but cheap rent may be just too good?
Didn't one of the recip Conroy Guppies of another owner base out of El Paso years ago. I wonder if that is still so?

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

No Super Guppy had R4360's on them after conversion. The original Super Guppy had 4 Pratt & Whitney T34's on it (the donor airframes were the YC-97J's which Aero Spacelines had previously converted for the Air Force from stock C-97s). Only the Pregnant Guppy and Mini Guppy ever had radials on them.

What you probably saw was the Mini Guppy while it was still operating as the sole truely commercial Guppy (the others operated on government or restricted airworthiness certificates)

Great pics Al. Sure is pretty!(?)!!!!

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T-6F, N81857
warbirdridesusa@gmail.com

...and takes off that way...

...here's the original Guppy N1024V at Ontario, CA (ONT)...Nov, 1965...

THAT's one heck of a hinge!

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“To invent the airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything!” - Otto Lilienthal

Natasha: "You got plan, darling?"
Boris: "I always got plan. They don't ever work, but I always got one!"

Remember, any dummy can be a dumb-ass...
In order to be a smart-ass, you first have to be "smart"
and to be a wise-ass, you actually have to be "wise"

The GPU is hiding the two jacks that are actually holding the majority of the weight.

Even so, holding up the whole nose section balanced on just the NLG from that one little point off to the side, it's STILL one heck of a hinge!!!

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“To invent the airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything!” - Otto Lilienthal

Natasha: "You got plan, darling?"
Boris: "I always got plan. They don't ever work, but I always got one!"

Remember, any dummy can be a dumb-ass...
In order to be a smart-ass, you first have to be "smart"
and to be a wise-ass, you actually have to be "wise"

Found this really interesting article on how the Guppy almost crashed with catastrophic fuselage failure during a Certifying flight back in 1965, shows some interesting and quite unbelievable pictures :

http://airpigz.com/blog/2011/1/9/1965-super-guppy-dive-test-goes-bad-not-a-bird-strike.html

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Just part of the team keeping them going
F111 Ex USAF 67-109 A8-109
Canberra WT492
PBY USN 46679
Constellation USAF 54-0145
Dakota 44-76774
Skymaster 44-9126
Sabre A64-901
HARS, Albion Park, AUSTRALIA

It was back in Seattle today and will return for a third time next month...

http://www.krem.com/news/northwest-news/163963596.html

Only in Seattle would the Super Guppy get so much attention...

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

its well deserved!! who doesnt smile when they see it?

Guppy stopping at Davis-Monthan AFB for a gas-n-go on way to Seattle Wednesday.
bill word

Interesting article. In the article, looks like it had two hinges for the nose.

There's 2 different articles before your post, so I'm going to assume that you're talking about the dive testing. If so, that is a different aircraft. The B377SG "Super Guppy" was the original Super Guppy. The current "Super Guppy" is actually one of the 4 B377SGT "Super Guppy Turbine" aircraft built for Airbus. They are actually quite different aircraft as well, not just the engines. The inner wings were extended to allow for all 4 engines to use full sized props (the B377SG's inner engines had "chopped" props) and to give slightly better cruise performance and add fuel. The upper lobe was also reconfigured slightly to allow for the Airbus parts to fit more easily.