As the crowd gathered the group watches a C-130H arrive to Mansfield-Lahm Airport. Home to Ohio’s 179th Airwing. This wasn’t the show but this was part of it, as the C-130H unloaded equipment for NASA not to far out the Boeing 337, Super Guppy arrives.
The aircraft is a spectacle in itself, some describe it as whale-like and others say it resembles an alien ship from a science fiction movie. All agree that it’s something interesting to see in the air. Hundreds of people lined the fences to see the aviation marvel landing. The Super Guppy’s stardom takes a backseat to its cargo on this trip, as it transports the Orion space capsule. The Orion space capsule is considered a major step forward in human space travel, any progress the program makes draws international attention.The Super Guppy can trace its history back to the Apollo days when it would transport Saturn V’s S-IVB stage.
The Super Guppy was first introduced in 1965 being operated by Aerospace Liners. The Super Guppy served Airbus, Erickson helicopters, Union De Transports Aerines, and NASA.
though sadly In 1967, Aero Spacelines encountered financial difficulties and was acquired by Unexcelled Inc. That corporation was sold to Tracor Aviation.
NASA currently operates one Super Guppy still for different projects including the Orion Project. Out of the Six, Guppy N941NA remains in service with NASA.
This is a really unique and awesome plane! It has transported rockets that brought pepole to the moon and it can be split in half for unloading. It is a very underrated plane even though it is very similar to the Dreamlifter. I think the plane has to be flown manually all time because the autopilot isn’t working correctly.
The Pregnant Guppy was built in 1962 and only one Pregnant Guppy was built, it flew until 1979 where it was scrapped. The Pregnant Guppy used four Pratt & Whitney R-4360s. The Pregnant Guppy is also shorter and smaller, the Super Guppy is powered by four Allison turboprops and is much larger both in length and width
