Warbird Information Exchange

This Guppy belongs to NASA and resides at Ellington Field...

Does anyone know how many were converted like this and what years they did it???

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Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!!

http://www.390th.org/
www.LSFM.org

Trae

Check out the following link

http://www.allaboutguppys.com/

Trae, there were two different conversions. Jack Conroy designed them and most were converted in the 60s.

The first was the original Pregnant Guppy, now residing at Pima Museum.

It started out as a standard C-97, then it became the testbed for a turboprop conversion. It was redesignated YC-97J and used the QECs and props off of the C-133. (T-34s )It was finally retired when support for the engines went away.

Airbus bought 1 and then built 3 others.The current Super Guppy was acquired from Airbus. It uses the C-130 QECS. (T-56) It's acquisition was tied into the European Space Agency agreement with the Space Station construction. It was marked #4 when it showed up at EFD. Airbus got rid of all of the C-97/Super Guppy conversions because they built an all jet version based on their A300s, they've built 5.

Thanks guys!!!

_________________
Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!!

http://www.390th.org/
www.LSFM.org

Trae

Wasn't one of the very first ones NOT a C-97 but a civilian 377 Stratocruiser?
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Close Rick, thery're L-188/Electra/P-3 QEC's. The air intake is on the wrong side of the gear box for a Herc.

DZ

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If God had wanted man to fly behind a flat motor, Pratt Whitney would've built one.

Point taken.

The big issue I was trying to get across was that the early airplane used C133 engines and props.

I thought I remember see ing a photo from Tillamook with a Guppy sitting on the ramp by the museum.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Actually, most, if not all were made from 377 Stratocruisers, rather than C-97's.

I dont have the data here at the moment, but there is some very good info out there tracing the history of each one.

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Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


C-54D "Spirit of Freedom" 43-17228
C-97 "Angel of Deliverance" 52-2718 (painted as YC-97A 45-59595)
C-54E/R5D-4 "Spirit of Freedom" 44-9144 BuNo 90414 (wfu April/2020)
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org

From : www.allaboutguppys.com

The Pregnant Guppy was constructed using B-377 N1024V and parts of B-377 (c/n 15976). The construction was done in three main phases. First, Aero Spacelines had to lengthen the fuselage enough fit the 40 ft. long Saturn S-IV stage. This was done by adding a 16 ft. 8 in. section of fuselage from a second Stratocruiser immediately aft of the wing's trailing edge. After adjusting the controls for the relocated center of gravity, they were able to move onto phase two.

This is what Clipper Constitution N1038V (c/n 15938) looked like when it was delivered to Pan American on September 29, 1949. Later it was renamed Clipper Hotspur and retrofitted as Super Stratocruiser in 1954. Clipper Hotspur was stored at New York until being traded to Boeing in 1960, then sold to Mansdorf who sold it to Aero Spacelines.
(44K JPG image)

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Parts of Boeing's YC-97J 25-2693 ( c/n 16724) Turbo-Stratocruiser, B-377s N406Q ( c/n 15945) and N408Q ( c/n 15944) were used in the construction of the Super Guppy. The majority of the parts including the wings with engines, cockpit and forward fuselage section of the YC-97J were used in the construction of the Super Guppy, but enough of N1038V was used to enable ASI to use the Stratocruiser's "N" number for registration purposes.

The Aero Spacelines 377MG Mini-Guppy began life as Boeing B-377 N1037V (c/n 15967), and delivered as Pan American Airways Clipper Fleetwings N1037V. Pan American took delivery September 8, 1949. It was traded back to Boeing in 1960, sold to Mansdorf, then to Aero Spacelines in 1963. After the purchase by Unexcelled, Inc. Aero Spacelines moved it's base of operations to Santa Barbara, California.

_________________
Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


C-54D "Spirit of Freedom" 43-17228
C-97 "Angel of Deliverance" 52-2718 (painted as YC-97A 45-59595)
C-54E/R5D-4 "Spirit of Freedom" 44-9144 BuNo 90414 (wfu April/2020)
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org

...N1024V...crew training at Ontario, CA (ONT)....1965....





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That "All about Guppys" is an interesting site! I used to see this Guppy-ized CL-44 fly in to the Bangor, Me airport in the early 90's

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I never said the jokes were Good, they're just Free! You gets whatchyas pays for!