Interesting Guppy Page

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Darc Ranger

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Stumbled across this page on the famous guppy air transports - famous and familiar to the Apollo crowd:<br /><br />http://www.allaboutguppys.com/<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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I've seen that one before. It's awesome; I wasted a whole day of work when I first found that page. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> I seem to recall they have a video of an S-IVB being loaded into the very first Pregnant Guppy; it's impressive to watch. That thing fits like a glove. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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Lucky you! I'm jealous. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> We don't get very many interesting aircraft here; the highlights for me in recent years have been rare visits by A-10s en route to other destinations and the occasional landing of Air Force One.<br /><br />I like Guppies, and I'd love to see one. Heck, I'd even like to see one of Airbus's Belugas, which are being built from leftover Guppy/Connie bits that AeroSpaceLines has left over. Not quite as cool, but a lot weirder looking. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /><br />On another thread, I referred to Guppies as "Frankenconnies" and I thought I'd share that here as well. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> It's bizarrely appealing to me that they're built out of the components of retired (and in some cases nonfunctional) Lockheed Constellations. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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nibb31

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I'm lucky enough to live in Toulouse and to see Belugas fly over my house several times a week. They routinely ferry parts from Hamburg to Toulouse. The Belugas are modified Airbus A300-600s and have nothing in common with the old Super Guppies. They are much larger. There are 4 of them in service.<br /><br />Contrary to what I've read in some places, the Belugas transport parts (wings, engines, or fuselage segments) for the A320, A330 and A340, but cannot transport parts of the A380. Those are too big to fit inside and are shipped into Bordeaux by sea and trucked to Toulouse over a ground route.<br /><br />I remember the old Super Guppies, and the most impressive thing about them was the speed. They were so slow you would think they would fall like rocks. I think there were 4 of them at Airbus, and they were retired years ago. I don't know what happened to all of them, but you can see one of them at Toulouse-Blagnac airport on Google Earth.<br /><br />Note that Boeing is planning on building an Beluga equivalent based on a modified 747 for transporting their own parts. I suppose it will probably be used for the CEV.<br />
 
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CalliArcale

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Actually, AeroSpaceLines did provide assistance to Airbus, and the lessons learned on Guppy helped in the design of the Belugas. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> I understand AeroSpaceLines sold most of their remaining equipment (including some partial Constellations) to Airbus, probably to help maintain their small Guppy fleet. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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