{"id":5941,"date":"2026-10-22T12:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/?post_type=aircraft&p=5941"},"modified":"2026-10-22T12:24:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T12:24:52","slug":"boeing-model-377-guppy","status":"publish","type":"aircraft","link":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/aircraft\/boeing-model-377-guppy\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing Model 377 Super Guppy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first Super Guppy, or “SG”, was built directly from a retired USAF Boeing YC-97J Stratofreighter<\/a>.[3]<\/a><\/sup> The fuselage was lengthened to 141 feet (43 m) and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of 25 ft (7.6 m), with 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.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the fuselage modifications, the Super Guppy used Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA<\/a> turboprop engines for increased power and range,[1]<\/a><\/sup> and modified wing and tail<\/a> surfaces. It could carry a load of 54,000 pounds (24,000 kg) and cruise at 300 mph (480 km\/h).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25, 1965, when undergoing high-speed dives during certification tests. After starting a dive at 10,000 feet, the upper fuselage collapsed. The plane had been carrying 30,000 pounds of borate in 100-pound sacks, which were damaged and spilled powder that temporarily blinded the crew. With the help of a DC-9<\/a> chase plane<\/a>, the crew was able to land on the dry bed of Rogers Dry Lake<\/a> and save the aircraft<\/a>. After that, Guppy’s upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at Edwards Air Force Base<\/a>.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Super Guppy Turbine F-BPPA at Paris\u2013Le Bourget Airport<\/a> in 1981<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although the first Super Guppy also used turboprop engines. However, this variant used Allison 501-D22C<\/a> engines. Unlike the previous Guppy, the main portion of its fuselage was constructed from scratch. By doing so, 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 6 in (34 m), and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of 52,500 lb (23,800 kg).[5]<\/a><\/sup> These design improvements, combined with a pressurized crew cabin<\/a> that allowed for higher-altitude cruising, allowed the SGT to transport more cargo than its predecessors.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SGT retained only the cockpit, wings, tail, and main landing gear<\/a> of the 377<\/a>. The nose gear was taken from a Boeing 707<\/a> and rotated 180\u00b0. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, levelling the cargo-bay floor and simplifying loading operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1970s, two SGT aircraft were used by Airbus<\/a> to transport airplane parts from production facilities to the final assembly plant in Toulouse<\/a>. In 1982 and 1983, two additional Super Guppy Turbines were built by Union de Transports A\u00e9riens<\/a> Industries in France after Airbus bought the rights to produce the aircraft. The four Super Guppies were later replaced in this role by the Airbus Beluga<\/a>, capable of carrying twice as much cargo by weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Super Guppy, or “SG”, was built directly from a retired USAF Boeing YC-97J Stratofreighter.[3] The fuselage was lengthened to 141 feet (43 m) and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of 25 ft (7.6 m), with the length of the cargo compartment being 94 ft 6 in (28.8 m). The floor of the cargo compartment was still only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4668,"template":"","meta":{"_acdb_brands_pos":"bottom","_acdb_special_pos":"after_links","footnotes":""},"aircraft_manufacturer":[69],"aircraft_category":[],"aircraft_country":[54],"class_list":["post-5941","aircraft","type-aircraft","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","aircraft_manufacturer-boeing","aircraft_country-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aircraft"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/5941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5947,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft\/5941\/revisions\/5947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"aircraft_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_manufacturer?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_category?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_country?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}