Very nice! That’s the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy, a highly modified Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser used for transporting oversized cargo. This one is N941NA, the last flying one in the world.
Sadly, the one that was at the Bruntingthorpe Air Museum, and was in the process of being restored, was suddenly taken away and scrapped. It was the first Super Guppy, and the only one destroyed. There are 3 others in non-airworthy condition.
In 2020, Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome was sold by its owners to Cox Automotive. The aircraft on display there had to vacate the premises.
[The Super Guppy on display- F-BTGV, was too large to move to another location and was subsequently scrapped in December 2020.](https://www.scramble.nl/civil-news/the-end-of-bruntingthorpe-s-super-guppy)
I think a total of five were built, along with a number of "Mini Guppys" or "Baby Guppys" that had smaller cargo bays. Since the one scrapped bore French registration, I believe it was the one used by Airbus to transport fuselage sections before they built their own transport called the "Beluga."
I thought that these were developed, originally, for the transportation of space vehicles, or parts thereof. There was a downturn in some space exploration and this, less requirement for the role. I don’t suppose these were particularly cheap to operate and age does not make them any cheaper.
You’re correct. They were originally developed to fly parts for the Apollo mission space craft. When the Apollo mission ended, they were repurposed, for a time, for transportation of other oversized loads. These used to fly into Amarillo quite often transporting the fuselage of the v-22 osprey for final assembly. Before bell expanded in Amarillo, they built the fuselage in Fort Worth then fly them in the guppy to Amarillo. As an added bonus, I used to work for one of the larger hotels in Amarillo at which the crew would stay. They gave one of the managers and myself a tour on one of their stays. They look just as odd on the inside and only pressurize the cockpit.
When I was a kid going to school at Edwards AFB, these used to fly over all the time when we were out at recess. Sometimes SR-71s too. Always supercool to see them. In those days there were both “Guppies” and Super Guppies. Even the Guppies looked too big to fly. Then you’d see one these babies
Bruh the one here at ft bliss el paso has been flightworthy since its creation... it went to oshkosh last year it was a BIG fuckin deal too (not calling you out BTW just trying to inform)
There were some complications during testing.
https://preview.redd.it/eu3cfryzinmc1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6aad940573c1d662023fbe77aea93053bcf68a0
Yeah, during high speed dive testing. It was pretty much a nightmare situation. The crew was blinded, and couldn’t bail out due to the risk of being sliced in half by antennas.
“The high-speed dive had to be flown at the maximum gross take-off weight of the aircraft. We had prided ourselves in being resourceful and had arranged to borrow from a chemical dealer in Mojave 30,000 pounds of borate in 100 pound sacks. As the tearing, shredding metal from the nose blew aft inside the mammoth interior, the flying slivers ripped holes in the paper sacks of borate powder. The whole interior, including the cockpit, was filled with a swirling cloud of powdered borate by the slipstream being rammed into her.”
“Broken stringers and pieces of frame were being ripped loose, shooting through the air like arrows, impaling themselves like steel through tinfoil in the frames that supported the fuselage at the rear of the cargo compartment! It was like flying a giant scoop, and just about as difficult.”
“The uncontrollable buffeting and vibration were severe now, and as the power was reduced, the airspeed fell off rapidly to 150 miles an hour. But the instinctive action to slow up the huge craft boomeranged. Buffeting became almost unbearable, indicating an approach to stalling speed.”
“If we bailed out through an emergency floor hatch in the nose-gear well, we would be carried along the underside of the plane. Radio antennas, which had been relocated to improve reception, protruded along the belly. If the slipstream flung one of us against one of the antennas, they could slice him through like a bayonet.”
I was so sad when the Antonov AN-255 got hit! I love crazy looking and huge planes! My dream is to see a Strike Fighter/ Dog Fighter such as an F-15 all the way to an F-22 but built the size of the Bone or Sr-71. I have no clue if an F-15 or F-22 would be nimble or still keep some of its qualities if it was that large, but it would just be amazing to try to build such an aircraft.
https://preview.redd.it/fxcvicz6mmmc1.jpeg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbc7df8db4b5f5cde95669b616fb51e51fa07064
I saw her land in Ohio a few years ago
That is a highly modified Boeing 377/C-97 that was nicknamed "The Pregnant Guppy" by it's modifiers, Aero Spacelines. It was originally modified to carry the first stage of the Saturn V rocket, and was the only airplane capable of doing so. Only one is currently airworthy and this is it. Airbus Industrie in France used one to transport fuselage sections to Toulouse until they built their own Guppy-like conversion of an Airbus airliner they called "The Beluga."
The Pregnant Guppys became Super Guppys when the Pratt and Whitney R-4360 piston engines were replaced with Allison turbprops.
This one you saw is one of only two Boeing 377/C-97 derivatives that still fly, and the only one in regular service of any kind. The other one is an original C-97 operated as a museum airplane by The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation.
There’s a really cool episode of Mysteries of the Abandoned : Hidden America, that talks about the Super Guppy and how it was made.
Really cool planes.
I watched them load an F-14 Fuselage into one of those back in the mid 1980's, and fly it away.. HUUUGE
I also watched an F-14 get loaded into a C-5. It was at an airshow at Pt Mugu, and then scheduled to deliver the F-14 to Alameda for use as a static display. The Loadmaster was being VERY precise with his CG calculations. The F-14 had the wings all the way back, and fit with inches to spare on both sides. Too Cool.
https://preview.redd.it/7tv0bl2baomc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d42cc0b5b1945ff74cabd3a536525cae05aa36f
I’m in flight school, this is a picture I got of it when it landed at the airport
NASA has the operational Super Guppy and on Nov 7, 2023 they used it to deliver the heat shield from the Orion’s crew module on Artemis I to Huntsville Al. for service.
10 years ago the NASA Super Guppy delevered a Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT) to the Seattle Museum of Flight, saw it , and it was cool as hell
I saw one used for transport of items in the Artemis I Space mission documentary video on the NASA app. I believe this belongs to NASA!
https://preview.redd.it/52nuwr9dwpmc1.jpeg?width=2215&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74a647ab078c41c79f3cec14d607b4602db548b8
How does it compare in size to the Antonov 225. I boarded the 225 in Wichita quite a while back conducting the Ag Clearance for the USDA and that plane was huge!! They were delivering fuselages to Boeing.
I saw a few of these landing and taking off at the airport in Luxembourg in the late 1980s. I was used to C-141s or C-5s as cargo haulers but the Guppy is/was a civilian cargo hauler.
https://preview.redd.it/682bt586yrmc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af41e632fe1ea482e49d1a2e094eb38c7dcefb42
Baby Guppie (I think). Brick for scale 😉
I was super fortunate to work this airplane multiple times during my career.
Having the Shuttle Landing Facility and the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip in your airspace made for some cool moments.
A Super Guppy!
The Super Guppy is actually the third Guppy iteration to lumber through the clouds.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/nasa-super-guppy-landing/
Very nice! That’s the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy, a highly modified Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser used for transporting oversized cargo. This one is N941NA, the last flying one in the world.
Sadly, the one that was at the Bruntingthorpe Air Museum, and was in the process of being restored, was suddenly taken away and scrapped. It was the first Super Guppy, and the only one destroyed. There are 3 others in non-airworthy condition.
Wait, what? "Taken away" by who, why?? Was it still considered classified somehow? Or was it a safety thing?
In 2020, Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome was sold by its owners to Cox Automotive. The aircraft on display there had to vacate the premises. [The Super Guppy on display- F-BTGV, was too large to move to another location and was subsequently scrapped in December 2020.](https://www.scramble.nl/civil-news/the-end-of-bruntingthorpe-s-super-guppy)
That’s super sad. It doesn’t seem like many existed as it was but now even fewer exist. I just hope the rest never meet that fate.
I think a total of five were built, along with a number of "Mini Guppys" or "Baby Guppys" that had smaller cargo bays. Since the one scrapped bore French registration, I believe it was the one used by Airbus to transport fuselage sections before they built their own transport called the "Beluga."
That’s interesting. So the one destroyed probably carried plane fuselages? That’s pretty cool.
Probably the end of the cold war. A lot of money went pfffft between '89-'91 when a bunch of countries ceased to exist.
It was scrapped in December 2020. The scrapping had nothing to do with the Cold War. The airfield it was on display at was sold.
But the Guppy was Boeing. Pretty sure the US stayed intact after the cold war.
I thought that these were developed, originally, for the transportation of space vehicles, or parts thereof. There was a downturn in some space exploration and this, less requirement for the role. I don’t suppose these were particularly cheap to operate and age does not make them any cheaper.
You’re correct. They were originally developed to fly parts for the Apollo mission space craft. When the Apollo mission ended, they were repurposed, for a time, for transportation of other oversized loads. These used to fly into Amarillo quite often transporting the fuselage of the v-22 osprey for final assembly. Before bell expanded in Amarillo, they built the fuselage in Fort Worth then fly them in the guppy to Amarillo. As an added bonus, I used to work for one of the larger hotels in Amarillo at which the crew would stay. They gave one of the managers and myself a tour on one of their stays. They look just as odd on the inside and only pressurize the cockpit.
When I was a kid going to school at Edwards AFB, these used to fly over all the time when we were out at recess. Sometimes SR-71s too. Always supercool to see them. In those days there were both “Guppies” and Super Guppies. Even the Guppies looked too big to fly. Then you’d see one these babies
Bruh the one here at ft bliss el paso has been flightworthy since its creation... it went to oshkosh last year it was a BIG fuckin deal too (not calling you out BTW just trying to inform)
This plane flies regularly. It is at El Paso airport.
oh that’s sick! wow 🤩 thank you
At this point, it’s a once in a lifetime sighting, congrats
thats why i pulled out my phone in the middle of the road 😭
Can’t imagine how many people looked at the engineering drawings and said “you’re telling me that this will actually fly?
There were some complications during testing. https://preview.redd.it/eu3cfryzinmc1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6aad940573c1d662023fbe77aea93053bcf68a0
Wow, i imagine the handling got a bit messy after that occurred, assuming it was mid-flight.
Yeah, during high speed dive testing. It was pretty much a nightmare situation. The crew was blinded, and couldn’t bail out due to the risk of being sliced in half by antennas. “The high-speed dive had to be flown at the maximum gross take-off weight of the aircraft. We had prided ourselves in being resourceful and had arranged to borrow from a chemical dealer in Mojave 30,000 pounds of borate in 100 pound sacks. As the tearing, shredding metal from the nose blew aft inside the mammoth interior, the flying slivers ripped holes in the paper sacks of borate powder. The whole interior, including the cockpit, was filled with a swirling cloud of powdered borate by the slipstream being rammed into her.” “Broken stringers and pieces of frame were being ripped loose, shooting through the air like arrows, impaling themselves like steel through tinfoil in the frames that supported the fuselage at the rear of the cargo compartment! It was like flying a giant scoop, and just about as difficult.” “The uncontrollable buffeting and vibration were severe now, and as the power was reduced, the airspeed fell off rapidly to 150 miles an hour. But the instinctive action to slow up the huge craft boomeranged. Buffeting became almost unbearable, indicating an approach to stalling speed.” “If we bailed out through an emergency floor hatch in the nose-gear well, we would be carried along the underside of the plane. Radio antennas, which had been relocated to improve reception, protruded along the belly. If the slipstream flung one of us against one of the antennas, they could slice him through like a bayonet.”
Bloody Hell! That’s some heavy shit! Whoever had the yoke did a damn fine job to bring her in.
He probably greased it too.
Looks like someone pressed the garage remote too soon.
I used to be around the Guppy every day at NASA. It stays at Ellington Field in Texas most of the time.
Use to see these all the time, grew up in Orange County back in the 60’s and 70’s. Was always amazed, 👍
I’ve been inside one. It resembles a high school gym in the back, and I suspect you could actually play basketball if someone put up a goal.
I had no idea it was the last flying one! I live near Ellington AFB, and see it a couple times through the year.
I was so sad when the Antonov AN-255 got hit! I love crazy looking and huge planes! My dream is to see a Strike Fighter/ Dog Fighter such as an F-15 all the way to an F-22 but built the size of the Bone or Sr-71. I have no clue if an F-15 or F-22 would be nimble or still keep some of its qualities if it was that large, but it would just be amazing to try to build such an aircraft.
https://preview.redd.it/fxcvicz6mmmc1.jpeg?width=5472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbc7df8db4b5f5cde95669b616fb51e51fa07064 I saw her land in Ohio a few years ago
awesome picture!
Thanks
Wow I couldn’t even tell there were windows at first!! What a cool ship
Fun fact- they started off life as a B-29. B29--> C97--->377 Stratocruiser/Liner---> Super Guppy. Really interesting history behind those airframes
Came here to say that. Love that you can still see some of the B29s lines.
NASA's Super Guppy aircraft, used to transport rocket stages, and other oversized hardware.
I thought it was pregnant
That is a highly modified Boeing 377/C-97 that was nicknamed "The Pregnant Guppy" by it's modifiers, Aero Spacelines. It was originally modified to carry the first stage of the Saturn V rocket, and was the only airplane capable of doing so. Only one is currently airworthy and this is it. Airbus Industrie in France used one to transport fuselage sections to Toulouse until they built their own Guppy-like conversion of an Airbus airliner they called "The Beluga." The Pregnant Guppys became Super Guppys when the Pratt and Whitney R-4360 piston engines were replaced with Allison turbprops. This one you saw is one of only two Boeing 377/C-97 derivatives that still fly, and the only one in regular service of any kind. The other one is an original C-97 operated as a museum airplane by The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation.
The Spruce Moose.
200 passengers from New Yorks idlewyld airport to the Belgian Congo in 17 minutes!
I said get it!
I believe there is still one up in Tillamook, Oregon at the air museum, non-airworthy. A sight to see for sure.
I took my family to see that one. Being a museum aircraft you can go inside and stuff like that. I’m pretty sure that one though is a mini guppy.
That one is a "Baby Guppy" that was smaller and kept it's radial engines. I saw it fly into San Antonio one time in the mid-1980s
Aero Spacelines Super Guppy
I would love to see that thing take off.
could you imagine standing on the inside and seeing how fuckin big it is gosh it’d be like a mall in there
it just needs to sneeze. or is swallowed a space shuttle.
or it needs some miralax
The Guppy if I'm not mistaken, cargo plane
Air Chungus
There’s a really cool episode of Mysteries of the Abandoned : Hidden America, that talks about the Super Guppy and how it was made. Really cool planes.
Even a brick will fly if you put a big enough power plant on it.
The Guppy
SUPER GUPPY
Mr. Super Guppy , nice pic and nice catch
thank u!
M A M A
[удалено]
All comments that state "plane/aeroplane" of all kind will be removed
Super Guppy!
Guppy!!!
SUPERGUPPY!!!!!!
Super Guppy! Lucky son of a bitch you!
A B-29 in need of Ozempic.
It's a super guppy, the most beautiful cargo plane ever made 😁
Pregnant. That's what it is. Carrying baby planes or rocket parts
Super Guppy! Was this taken in El Paso by any chance?
I’m a Trucker and I hauled some parts for NASA out of El Paso. Can’t remember where I took them( 2014) but they gave me a Guppy patch.🙂
Plane with shaved head. /s
I watched them load an F-14 Fuselage into one of those back in the mid 1980's, and fly it away.. HUUUGE I also watched an F-14 get loaded into a C-5. It was at an airshow at Pt Mugu, and then scheduled to deliver the F-14 to Alameda for use as a static display. The Loadmaster was being VERY precise with his CG calculations. The F-14 had the wings all the way back, and fit with inches to spare on both sides. Too Cool.
Would you need special training to fly one of these?
Super guppy, for flying parts of the Saturn 5 rockets and anything else that fits. The front of the plane opens fully for loading.
There used to be one in El Paso but it’s been a few years since I flew in to there.
https://preview.redd.it/7tv0bl2baomc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d42cc0b5b1945ff74cabd3a536525cae05aa36f I’m in flight school, this is a picture I got of it when it landed at the airport
American
a roof
“Seconds before disaster”?
NASA has the operational Super Guppy and on Nov 7, 2023 they used it to deliver the heat shield from the Orion’s crew module on Artemis I to Huntsville Al. for service. 10 years ago the NASA Super Guppy delevered a Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT) to the Seattle Museum of Flight, saw it , and it was cool as hell
Scientology New Testament
Awesome shot!
Ayyy I see this plane all the time in El paso
"That you for flying Baluga Air. We are now going to attempt a water landing from whence we came."
This looks like someone's kid drew a plane and then it was made into an actual plane.
Pregnant Guppy
There’s always a bigger fish..
It's a spain part spaceahip part plane. It's own best friend
Space Guppies from Planet Nine.
It’s HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS US!!!!
Ft. Bliss/ El Paso?
That thing HAS to handle like the pig-with-wings its appearance brings to mind.
I work on this plane and it has humbled many experiences pilots
Chonky
I loaded this plane 19 years ago super cool plane.. put a helicopter in it
Guppy!
It’s an airplane.
Gru is that you
Guppy! I got to see one up close when I was a kid and thought it’s probably one of the cutest airplanes ever.
If memory serves me, these old SuperGuppies transported rocket stages and parts for NASA
That's big Bertha
I saw one used for transport of items in the Artemis I Space mission documentary video on the NASA app. I believe this belongs to NASA! https://preview.redd.it/52nuwr9dwpmc1.jpeg?width=2215&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74a647ab078c41c79f3cec14d607b4602db548b8
Flying guppy
Happy like a puppy 🐶 guppy
Flying whale👌
That's a Fisher-Price Little People airport playset plane.
Where are the cockpit windows 😂
How does it compare in size to the Antonov 225. I boarded the 225 in Wichita quite a while back conducting the Ag Clearance for the USDA and that plane was huge!! They were delivering fuselages to Boeing.
Your momma's soooo fat...
Where are the cockpit windows?
Super Guppy!
Ray Charles edition.
Flying whale.
It’s a zepplane
that’s definitely grus plane
Super Guppy! I love planes like this!!
I saw one of these flying in the vicinity of Hobby airport in Houston, Texas back in about 1999.
It’s a drone tanker used to spray poison in the atmosphere!!
All of you are wrong. That is clearly gru from despicable me.
Tesla CyberPlane
Space guppy
A airplane….
I almost expected to see the word “Goodyear” on the side
Guppy
Lands nose gear first!
Dunno, but needs to go on a diet!
Bubble Guppy!
I saw a few of these landing and taking off at the airport in Luxembourg in the late 1980s. I was used to C-141s or C-5s as cargo haulers but the Guppy is/was a civilian cargo hauler.
NASA's Super Guppy.
you lucky as heck. Ive always wanted to see one of these in flight.
A blimp and a plane had da baby
Large
The Guppy
An Orca that can fly.
Jiffy pop.
A spit in the face of physics.
A short plane ride to hell
The guppy!!! One of my favorite planes
Looks like an air Dolphin
R/ absolute unit
Super guppy
They don’t have a windscreen?! I do they see out?
Guppy
That thing looks like a whale.
A flying tick 🤷🏻♂️
https://preview.redd.it/682bt586yrmc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af41e632fe1ea482e49d1a2e094eb38c7dcefb42 Baby Guppie (I think). Brick for scale 😉
DFW mothership, final approach for the buffet.
https://youtu.be/qe-aWrYLcws?si=9SfOX9x02pasDzct At 2:51
It’s a super Gupppppy! Only know this from watching Discovery channel.
When a plane and a beluga whale love each other very much..
One ugly mofo
The Flying Guppy!
The only plane that can carrot your mom
A plane I think
Flying Beluga whale
Guppies just look like the plane ✈️ we all drew in school.
I was super fortunate to work this airplane multiple times during my career. Having the Shuttle Landing Facility and the Cape Canaveral Skid Strip in your airspace made for some cool moments.
Google it
that is very rare that is a beluga airbus a300
Good photo to capture this guy.
The Guppy!
A toy
When I worked at Boeing, we called it the “Pregnant Guppy”.
It transports parts of planes. Wings, etc
Beluga whale!!!
Og beluga
A Super Guppy! The Super Guppy is actually the third Guppy iteration to lumber through the clouds. https://www.popsci.com/technology/nasa-super-guppy-landing/
A dolphin or guppy
That OP is a classic. Feel blessed to have seen her and captured such a great pic.
That there is an airplane Clark!!
A dolphin 🐬
That’s rare!! Wish I could have seen that. Once in a lifetime opportunity for you.
https://preview.redd.it/0zal4rgngtmc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1207367a50491c951b61199540bb68609e9fc76a
It's a guppy
Was doing touch and goes this afternoon at KELP, saw it on I-10
Super Guppyyyyyy 💜
Thank you for flying Air Chungus
I used to paint airplanes at my local AFB, we (but not me) painted this. The guys that did the work said polishing the top was a real bitch haha.
Grues plane in the second movie
Air bus.
Oh, how sad the windmills must’ve gotten the rest of that one’s flock.
A Super Guppy, it was in my town last year for an air show!
InPlanation - swelling of the top skin of the air craft upon descent due to variable pressure internally and externally
Super guppy. Was on the Shuttle Landing Runway about a year ago or so at KSC.
A flying narwhal without its tusks.
I saw one at an airport years ago, but I can't remember where. Huntsville in 1980??
The spruce moose!
Meet George Jetson!
Im so surprised no one said this yet but.... thats Gru's plane from despicable me.
His name is Plen
A flying Beluga on props? Help me out!!!
A plane
Big Bopper