Aero Spacelines Super Guppy
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The Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft used for ferrying outsized cargo components. It is the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines, Inc. Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy."
Super Guppy versions
The first, the Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from the fuselage of a C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser, the military version of the Boeing 377. The fuselage was lengthened to 141 feet (43 m), and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of 25 ft (7.6 m), the length of the cargo compartment being 94 ft 6 in (28.8 m). The floor of the cargo compartment was still only 8 ft 9 in (2.7 m) 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. It could carry a load of 40,000 pounds (18,000 kg) and cruise at 300 mph (480 km/h).
The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT) because the original 377 engines had been replaced with high-performance Allison 501-D22C turboprops. Unlike previous Guppies, the fuselage was constructed from scratch. By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to 13 ft (4 m). The overall cargo compartment length was increased to 111 ft (33.8 m), and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of 54,500 pounds (24,700 kg). 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 nosegear was taken from the Boeing 707 -- and reversed 180 degrees. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, leveling the cargo bay floor and simplifying loading operations.
In the early 1970s, four Super Guppies were used by Airbus Industrie to transport aeroplane parts from decentralised production facilities to the final assembly plant in Toulouse. The running joke was "Every Airbus is delivered on the wings of a Boeing!" They have since been replaced by the Airbus Beluga.
Only one Super Guppy remains in service: an SGT flown by NASA. The other four are mothballed; the SG at Pima Air and Space Museum, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, the first SGT at Bruntingthorpe, UK, the second outside Airbus' factories at Blagnac Airport, Toulouse, France, and the third at Finkenwerder, Germany.
Specifications (Super Guppy Turbine)
General characteristics
- Wing span: 47.625 m (156 ft 3 in)
- Length: 43.84 m (143 ft 10 in)
- Height: 14.148 m (46 ft 5 in)
- Cargo bay dimensions: 33.8 m x 7.62 m x 7.62 m(111 ft x 25 ft x 25 ft)
- Powerplants: Four Allison 501-D22C turboprops, 4680 hp
- Crew: 4
Performance
- Cruising Speed: 252 knots (466.7 km/h)
- Service ceiling: 32,000 ft (9,753.6 m)
- Maximum range: 1734 nautical miles (3218.7 km)
- Empty weight: 46,039 kg (101,500 lb)
- Maximum Cargo Weight: 24,720 kg (54,500 lb)
- Maximum takeoff weight: 77,110 kg (170,000 lb)
External links
- [NASA Super Guppy home page]
- [Johnson Space Center's Super Guppy page]
- [Page about the Boeing B-377, the plane all Guppies were based on]
- ["All About Guppys"] - Extensive information on all of the Guppy Aircraft, including many photographs and drawings.
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