Super Guppy

The Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft used for ferrying outsized cargo components. The Super Guppy is only one of the Guppy line of aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines, Inc, and was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft.

Table of contents

1 Super Guppy Versions
2 Related Topics
3 For More Information
4 External Links

Super Guppy Versions

Two versions of the Super Guppy were produced. Both versions are colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy".

The first, the Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from the fuselage of a C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser, the military version of the B-377. The fuselage was lengthened to 141 feet, and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of 25', the length of the cargo compartment being 94' 6". The floor of the cargo compartment was still only 8' 9" wide, as necessitated by the use of the Stratocruiser fuselage.

In addition to the fuselage modifications, the Super Guppy used upgraded Pratt & Whitney T-34P7 turboprops for increased power and range, and modified wing and tail surfaces.

The original Super Guppy could carry a maximum load of 40,000 pounds (20 tons) and could cruise at 300 mph.

The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), so called because the original B-377 engines had been replaced with high-performance Allison 501-D22C turboprops. The fuselage was different from previous Guppies, being constructed completely from scratch, the only original B-377 parts being the cockpit, wings, tail, and landing gear.

By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to 13'. The overall cargo compartment length was increased to 111', and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of 54,500 pounds. These design improvements, combined with a pressurized crew cabin that allowed for higher-altitude cruising, allowed the SGT to transport more cargo than it's predecessors.

In the early 1970s four of the Super Guppies were used by Airbus Industrie to transport the airplane parts from the decentral productions to the final assembly in Toulouse. They have since been replaced by the Airbus Beluga.

A total of five Super Guppies were produced, one SG and four SGTs. Four of these are mothballed: the SG at Pima AFB, Arizona, and three of the SGT's in Europe, one each in England, France, and Germany. The remaining SGT serves actively in NASA's fleet.