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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0239.PDF
.uGHT,nternat/ona/, (5 February (968 he Strange iGuppy Family 233 I By N. E. ANDROSS [The author is a veteran navigator and pilot with over 115 000 hours' flying time, military and commercial, \ including many transatlantic and trans-Pacific crossings. [At present with Northrop as a research engineer on aircraft [controls and displays, he is also chief navigator for the I California Air National Guard and frequently flies transport missions to Vietnam and Japan in C-97s. THE CONCEPT OF THE GUPPY SERIES of aircraft is the brainchild of John M. "Jack" Conroy, dynamic president anddriving force of Aero Spacelines, Inc. The organisation was formed in 1961 at Van Nuys, California, to build the I Pregnant Guppy, the first of these unusual aircraft designed [ to carry outsized cargo. The Pregnant Guppy was first flown Ion October 21, 1962, from Van Nuys Airport. Its success led I Jack Conroy to conceive the idea of an even larger version— the Super Guppy—built in only ten months and first flown, i also from Van Nuys, on August 12, 1965. The utilisation of these two aircraft for rapid transport of j outsized components and assemblies associated with the Gemini [ and Apollo projects has contributed significantly to the success \ of the US space programme. Subsequently, foreseeing a commercial use for an aircraft ! adaptable to carrying a large variety of more common outsized cargo (e.g., large computers, drilling equipment, etc), Aero Howard Levy photograph Spacelines developed the Mini Guppy. The Mini Guppy was constructed in the incredible time of only five-and-a-half months and was first flown on May 24, 1967, from Santa Barbara (California) Airport, the company's current location. The first and third aircraft (the Pregnant Guppy and the Mini Guppy) were each constructed from airframes of two former Pan American Boeing Model 377 Stratocruisers, retaining the tour Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines. The Super Guppy was constructed basically from a YC-97J, one of two such wrboprop-powered aircraft built for the USAF during the middle 1950s but never put into production. This aircraft is Powered by four of the original Pratt & Whitney T-34 turbo- ProPs, giving it a cruising speed of approximately 300 m.p.h. " wm-pared to 250 m.p.h. for the other two Guppy aircraft. In 4nr!™?' il can ^"y 60,0001b of payload as compared with Y°lb ^r the other two aircraft. lin V* t'1CSe tnree aircraft weren't large enough, Aero Space-es has already done preliminary work on the Colossal Guppy, The turboprop-powered Super Guppy. based on a YC-97J Howard Lavy photograph The Mini Guppy, based like Vie original Pregnant Guppy) on a Boeing 377. The conversions were made by the On Mark Engineering Co in collaboration with Aero Spacelines Left, Mr John M. Conroy, president of Aero Spacelines Mightier yet: "Colossal Guppy" project for a marriage of two B-S2s
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