| Aero Spacelines | |
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HW100 - 45000
UAW55 - 105000 RRW100 - 175000 PKRR - 7500 |
Aero Spacelines Aero Spacelines, Inc. Founded - 1960; 62 years ago Founder - John M. Conroy Defunct - 1968 Products - Pregnant Guppy / Super Guppy / Mini Guppy Aero Spacelines, Inc. was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1960 to 1968 which made a name for itself by converting Boeing 377 Stratocruisers into the famous Guppy line of airplanes, re-engineered solely for transporting oversized cargo such as space exploration vehicles. The founder, John M. Conroy, had to sell some of his possessions to start the company. History Aero Spacelines was formed with only one customer in mind - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA required a way to transport outsize cargo from their various manufacturing plants, such as the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. These freight shipments were too large to be safely transported by rail or truck. Shipping by sea was too time-consuming, expensive, and fraught with the danger of damaging the cargo on turbulent seas. The only viable means of transporting NASA's cargo was by air. However, due to the large size of the components, no existing aircraft was capable of accomplishing the task. John M. "Jack" Conroy, a retired United States Air Force pilot, and Lee Mansdorf, an aircraft salesman and entrepreneur, formulated the Guppy concept one evening over dinner. It was decided a company needed to be established to manufacture outsized aircraft. Conroy hired Robert W. Lillibridge as vice president of manufacturing and engineering, and a team was assembled for the project. Financing was provided by venture capitalist William Ballon, a World War II combat veteran also from the Army Air Corps. Once the company was established at Van Nuys Airport, California, Aero Spacelines began operation in 1960 to engineer the transformation of the Boeing 377 airliner into the Pregnant Guppy. Among the earliest of NASA's shipments utilizing the Pregnant Guppy were the first and second stages of the Project Gemini's Titan II GVL from the Martin Co. in Baltimore, Maryland, to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Subsequent versions of the Guppy series transported the S-IVB, the third stage of the Saturn booster from California to Florida. In 1967, Aero Spacelines encountered financial difficulties and was acquired by Unexcelled Inc. That corporation was sold to Tracor Aviation. Jack Conroy organized a new company, Conroy Aircraft, which built more airplanes for transporting oversized cargo. By November 1968, NASA had paid Aero Spacelines $11,591,633 in contracts. Conroy ceased operations in 1972. As of March 2021, one Super Guppy was still in operation. NASA utilizes it to transport its vehicles as needed, and leases it to third parties when not in use. In early 2016, NASA used that aircraft to transport the main structure of Orion crew capsule, from its Michoud Manufacturing Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the capsule will undergo its first uncrewed test flight aboard the Space Launch System rocket. In November 2019 NASA used the aircraft to transport the Orion capsule from the Kennedy Space Center to the Mansfield Lahm Airport in Ohio for thermal and vacuum tests. List of aircraft Aero Spacelines produced three Guppy aircraft models. Pregnant Guppy (1962) - 1 built Super Guppy (1965) - 5 built Mini Guppy (1967) - 2 built Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy (Aero Spacelines Guppy-101) Mini Guppy Role - Outsize cargo freight aircraft National origin - United States Manufacturer - Aero Spacelines First flight - May 24, 1967 Retired - 1995 Primary users - Aero Spacelines / Aero Union / Erickson Inc. / American Jet Industries Number built - 2 (1 MG, 1 MGT) Developed from - Boeing 377 Stratocruiser The Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy is a large, wide-bodied, American cargo aircraft used for aerial transport of outsized cargo components. The Mini Guppy is one of the Guppy line of aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines. Mini Guppy versions Two versions of the Mini Guppy were produced. Both versions are colloquially referred to as the "Mini Guppy". Both Mini Guppies were built using parts salvaged from a surplus Boeing 377, but with an all-new fuselage. This enabled Aero Spacelines to widen the Mini Guppy cargo bay floor to 13 ft (4 m), as opposed to the 8 ft (2.4 m) restriction imposed when building directly onto a B-377 fuselage. Borrowed parts included the cockpit, wings, and tail. Mini Guppy The Mini Guppy, or "MG", was built with a swing-tail to facilitate cargo loading. It was powered by the original Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major piston engines, enabling it to carry a maximum load of 32,000 pounds (14,500 kg), and cruise at 250 mph (400 km/h). Its cargo bay was 18 ft (5.5 m) in diameter, and a maximum of 91 ft 6 in (27.9 m) long, with a 73 ft 2 in (22.3 m) constant section. The Mini Guppy first flew on May 24, 1967, and Aero Spacelines operated it for several years, ferrying contract cargo, including NASA's famed Pioneer 10 space probe and the Goodyear Europa until it was sold to American Jet Industries in 1974. American Jet Industries sold it to Aero Union in 1980, who sold it to Erickson Air Crane eight years later. Erickson Air Crane used the Mini Guppy to haul heavy equipment until 1995, when it was retired to the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon, where it resides today. Mini Guppy Turbine The second version was officially known as the Mini Guppy Turbine (MGT) and Guppy 101. It was the first Guppy aircraft to feature upgraded Allison 501-D22C turboprop engines. Like the MG, the MGT had a 73 ft 2 in (22.3 m) constant diameter section of the cargo hold, but the overall length had been increased to 103 ft 2 in (31.4 m), and the diameter was slightly wider: 18 ft 4 in (5.6 m). This, combined with the upgraded engines, enabled it to carry a maximum payload of 62,925 pounds (28,540 kg), almost twice the load the MG could handle. It was built with a swing-nose for easier cargo loading. The MGT first took to the air on March 13, 1970, but was short-lived. On May 12, 1970, the Mini Guppy Turbine was lost, along with the entire crew, in an accident during flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Pregnant Guppy, the original Guppy Super Guppy, larger successor to the Pregnant Guppy Conroy Skymonster Aero Spacelines Super Guppy (Aero Spacelines Guppy-201) B-377-SG/SGT Super Guppy Role - Outsize cargo aircraft Manufacturer - Aero Spacelines / Airbus First flight - August 31, 1965 Status - Active, operated by NASA Primary users - Aero Spacelines, NASA, Airbus, Aeromaritime Number built - 1 SG, 4 SGT Developed from - Boeing 377 Stratocruiser The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that is used for hauling outsize cargo components. It was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines. Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy". The Super Guppy is the only airplane in the world that has carried a complete S-IVB stage, the third stage of the Saturn V rocket. The Super Guppy performed this role several times during the Apollo program. Design and development The first, the Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from the fuselage of a C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser, the military version of the 1950s Boeing 377 Stratocruiser passenger plane. 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 Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turboprop engines for increased power and range, and modified wing and tail surfaces. It could carry a load of 54,000 pounds (24,000 kg) and cruise at 300 mph (480 km/h). After a month of tests, Super Guppy suffered fuselage collapse on September 25 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 chase plane, the crew was able to land on the dry bed of Rogers Dry Lake and save the aircraft. After that, Guppy's upper superstructure was redesigned and rebuilt at Edwards Air Force Base. The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although it used turboprop engines like the first Super Guppy. This variant used Allison 501-D22C turboprops. Unlike the previous Guppy, the main portion of its fuselage was constructed from scratch. By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to 13 ft (4.0 m). The overall cargo-compartment length was increased to 111 ft 6 in (34.0 m), and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of 52,500 lb (23,800 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 nose gear was taken from a Boeing 707 and rotated 180 degrees. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, leveling the cargo-bay floor and simplifying loading operations. In the early 1970s, the two Super Guppy Turbines were used by Airbus to transport airplane parts from decentralized production facilities to the final assembly plant in Toulouse. In 1982 and 1983, two additional Super Guppy Turbines were built by Union de Transports Aériens Industries in France after Airbus bought the right to produce the aircraft. The four Super Guppies have since been replaced in this role by the Airbus Beluga, capable of carrying twice as much cargo by weight. Variants Aero Spacelines B-377-SG Super Guppy, prototype of a much enlarged version of the Guppy using C-97J components, powered by four Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turbo-prop engines. Aero Spacelines B-377-SGT Super Guppy Turbine (Guppy 201), production version powered by Allison 501-D22C turbo-prop engines, using an enlarged cargo section built from scratch instead of being converted from original C-97J components. Aircraft One Super Guppy remains in service with NASA. Three are on display, and one was scrapped. Super Guppy N940NS (previously N1038V), serial number 52-2693, is on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, US. Super Guppy Turbine F-BTGV (formerly N211AS), serial number 0001, was on static display at the former British Aviation Heritage Centre, Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, United Kingdom. The aircraft was broken up in December 2020, with the cockpit saved by the South Wales Aviation Museum. Super Guppy Turbine F-BPPA (formerly N212AS), serial number 0002, is on static display in the Musée Aeronautique Aeroscopia near the Airbus facility, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, France. Super Guppy Turbine F-GDSG, serial number 0003, is on static display at the Airbus facility, Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport, Germany. Super Guppy Turbine N941NA (formerly F-GEAI), serial number 0004, is still in service with NASA as a transport aircraft and is based at the El Paso Forward Operating Location at the El Paso International Airport, in El Paso, Texas, US. It is the last operational Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in the world. Operators Current NASA Former Aero Spacelines Aeromaritime Airbus Specifications (Super Guppy Turbine) Data from Encyclopedia of The World's Commercial and Private Aircraft, NASA.gov General characteristics Crew: 4 Length: 143 ft 10 in (43.84 m) Wingspan: 156 ft 3 in (47.63 m) Height: 48 ft 6 in (14.78 m) Cargo bay dimensions: 111 ft × 25 ft × 25 ft (33.83 m × 7.62 m × 7.62 m) Wing area: 1,965 sq ft (182.6 m2) Airfoil: root:Boeing 117 (22%); tip: Boeing 117 (9%)[11] Empty weight: 101,500 lb (46,040 kg) Gross weight: 54,500 lb (24,721 kg) (payload) Max takeoff weight: 170,000 lb (77,111 kg) Powerplant: 4 × Allison 501-D22C turboprop engines, 4,680 shp (3,490 kW) each Propellers: 4-bladed constant-speed fully-feathering propellers Performance Maximum speed: 250 kn (290 mph, 460 km/h) Cruise speed: 220 kn (250 mph, 410 km/h) economical cruise at 20,000 ft (6,096 m) Range: 1,734 nmi (1,995 mi, 3,211 km) Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m) certified Wing loading: 86.5 lb/sq ft (422 kg/m2) Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg) Related development Boeing B-29 Superfortress Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Airbus Beluga Boeing Dreamlifter Conroy Skymonster Myasishchev VM-T Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy (Aero Spacelines B-377PG Pregnant Guppy) Pregnant Guppy Role - Outsize cargo freight aircraft Manufacturer - Aero Spacelines First flight - September 19, 1962 Retired - 1979 Status - Scrapped at Van Nuys in 1979 Primary users - Aero Spacelines, NASA Produced - 1 Developed from - Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Developed into - Aero Spacelines Super Guppy The Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy was a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft built in the United States and used for ferrying outsized cargo items, most notably components of NASA's Apollo program. The Pregnant Guppy was the first of the Guppy line of aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines. The design inspired later designs, such as the jet-powered Airbus Beluga and Boeing Dreamlifter. Development In 1960, NASA was using barges to transport increasingly large rocket components from manufacturers on the West Coast to test and launch sites on the East Coast, a method that was slow and expensive. Meanwhile, U.S. airlines were disposing of their obsolete piston-engined Boeing 377 Stratocruisers in favor of the newer jet-engined airliners. Aircraft broker Leo Mansdorf was stockpiling surplus Stratocruisers at Van Nuys for resale. Ex-USAF pilot John M. Conroy realized that these aircraft could be modified to transport the large but relatively light rocket components. Conroy presented his plans for an extensively modified Stratocruiser to NASA, where an official commented that the bloated aircraft resembled a pregnant guppy. Although NASA was lukewarm on the concept, Conroy mortgaged his house and founded Aero Spacelines International to build and operate the concept aircraft. Conversion work was undertaken by On Mark Engineering. The Pregnant Guppy (registered N1024V) was built from an ex-Pan Am airframe; a 5 meter section from an ex-British Overseas Airways Corporation aircraft (G-AKGJ) was added immediately behind the wing. A new upper fuselage of 6 meter diameter was added, giving the aircraft a "triple-bubble" appearance when viewed from the front. The entire rear section (including tail surfaces) was detachable to allow cargo to be loaded directly into the fuselage. The wing, engines, tail, nose, and cockpit were unchanged. The aircraft first flew on September 19, 1962, piloted by Conroy and co-pilot Clay Lacy. When Van Nuys traffic control realized that Conroy intended to take off, they notified police and fire departments to be on alert. However, the huge aircraft performed flawlessly, the only difference in handling being a slight decrease in speed caused by extra drag of the larger fuselage. Carrying the S-IV Saturn I rocket stage, the Guppy saved three weeks' transit time versus barge, for a cost of $16.00 (equivalent to $139.79 today) per mile (1.6 km). Operational history In the summer of 1963, the Pregnant Guppy began flying NASA cargo. Among its early duties was transporting the first and second stages of the Gemini program's Titan II from the Martin Co. in Baltimore, Maryland, to Cape Canaveral. As the space program grew through the late 1960s, it became apparent that the one original aircraft clearly could not handle the whole transport load, so 25 more Stratocruisers and ex-USAF C-97s were purchased to construct four Super Guppy aircraft, which were even longer and larger than the original. The various Guppy aircraft served throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond, initially transporting space components, and later, as NASA scaled down its operations after the success of the Apollo program, transporting airliner sections. The Pregnant Guppy was sold to American Jet Industries and registered N126AJ for scrap and it was finally scrapped at Van Nuys in 1979. Specifications (B337PG Pregnant Guppy) Data from Jane's All The Worlds Aircraft 1965-66, Jane's All The Worlds Aircraft 1971-72 General characteristics Crew: 3 Capacity: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg) + Length: 127 ft 0 in (38.71 m) Wingspan: 141 ft 3 in (43.05 m) Diameter: 20 ft 4 in (6.20 m) cabin height Height: 31 ft 3 in (9.53 m) to top of fuselage; 38 ft 3 in (12 m) overall Wing area: 1,769 sq ft (164.3 m2)[citation needed] Cargo compartment : volume: 29,187 cu ft (826 m3) Cargo compartment : total length: 80 ft (24 m) Cargo compartment : constant-section length: 30 ft (9 m) Cargo compartment : max height: 19 ft 9 in (6 m) Cargo compartment : max width: 19 ft 9 in (6 m) Cargo compartment : max width: 8 ft 7 in (3 m) Airfoil: root: Boeing 117 (22%); tip: Boeing 117 (9%) Empty weight: 91,000 lb (41,277 kg) Max takeoff weight: 133,000 lb (60,328 kg) (later increased) Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360-B6 Wasp Major 28-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 3,500 hp (2,600 kW) each Powerplant: 4 × Aerojet-General 15KS-1000-A1 solid-fuel assisted take-off rocket engines, 1,000 lbf (4.4 kN) thrust each for 15 seconds Propellers: 4-bladed Hamilton-Standard Model 34E60-387 constant-speed fully-feathering propellers Performance Maximum speed: 320 kn (370 mph, 590 km/h) Cruise speed: 195 kn (224 mph, 361 km/h) normal operating speed Related development Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Boeing 377 Stratocruiser Boeing B-29 Superfortress |