The Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2024
- As the US honed in on what it hoped would be its notable first in manned space exploration, a problem arose that required a unique solution. Surprisingly, the answer to this problem of cutting edge technology turned out to be an obsolete piece of equipment that came as the result of the vision of a daring private entrepreneur, with the help of a few two-by-fours.
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Script by THG
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This video is like a "greatest hits" of my 20 years in the Air Force. It seemed I was always running in to the PG or an SPG somewhere or at least half of it. It was just something that made you stop and take a look at no matter how many time you saw it.
I saw the VPG at Dover in the late 2000's. Weirdest plane I've ever seen.
Same here. I did 20 also. Working midshift on the flight line I got to see alot of different aircraft stopping for refueling. The space shuttle piggyback, the guppy, SR71. The most special was when I was stationed in Turkey in the late 80s. The Turkish Air Force was flying a couple of C47s on cargo runs in country. Seeing a C47 next to a C141 or C5 was awesome.
@@samspaun8195 Good times eh? 😄
@@-jeff- yep. Younger years alway look better now.
Thank you for your service.
As a young boy growing up in Glendale California during the Space race in the 1960s, I had heard about the PG plane on the news. Then, one day, I just happen to look up and I saw one for the very first time flying over my home. I was so in awe watching it fly over and away until I could not see it anymore. It got me thinking, this is the first time I had seen anything of the space race, and I wanted to see more. Needless to say, this put a little bug in my head then. My girlfriend and I at the time went to high school in Huntington Beach California and her dad was the head safety officer for the space shuttle being built at the time. I joined the US Air Force and made it a career soon after graduating from high school. I still look up and watch planes fly over my home in Spokane Washington today where I retired from the USAF.
What an amazing story of how things in our childhood can have such an impact on our lives. I live in Seattle metro and go to Spokane several times a year for work. Thank you for your service to this great country. 🙏🏼🇺🇸
I was an aviation nut as a kid, read every book I could get my hands on at the public and school libraries and when Scholastic used to come around. Then I joined the Civil Air Patrol... a dream come true! We got to fly on kc-135s usually, but occasionally something special would come along. Didn't get the fly in the Guppies, but we did get to visit them and explore them. Just reinforced that anything's possible!
Or at least it used to be. I bet you couldn't get away with this nowadays! You'd be regulated and permitted into inaction.
The beginning of your comment described me to a "T". I would ride my bike to the local airport everyday and hop rides with the student hour builders starting at about 10 years old. I "logged" about 100 hours and had maybe twice that amount of time in the air. I was allowed to take control of the aircraft many times. We flew mainly Cessna 150s and 172 Skylanes. I learned enough to be able to pass the Private Pilot's Exam, I think. Other interests and a USMC recruiter were tugging at me too though. I don't think there was a CAP squadron in my area to be able to take part in. I did get assigned to an Airborne unit and was able to jump out of C-130s, C-141s and a couple of Huey's. That was about the funnest but scariest thing I think I've ever done. After my enlistment I suffered a traumatic head injury and had seizures. That keeps me from being able to earn my PPL. Flying gets into your blood and it becomes an obsession. I've also become involved in ham radio. That's another thing that gets in your blood and is a LITTLE BIT cheaper lol.
@@mrfancypants29 💸💰 ain't that a fact! It was great being able to lon time in a t41b, and my pop was a teacher who worked Summers a little local airport where they flew navajos & Twin otters from Lakes Region New Hampshire to Boston and Manchester. We'd fly supercargo and I did get some stick time whenever Dale Crum didn't have passengers. My vision was too poor to join the service and fly for any branch, although I might have tried harder for rotor-wing if I'd known then what I know now. Great childhood though wasn't it?👍
Elon Musk could tell you a thing or two about that.
Civilian Contractors are used in many cases to avoid the red tape of a Branch of the Military doing it itself.
If we leave it to Congress, committees, and experts to solve ALL our problems, we risk dieing before it happens.
And yet because of those planes things like that do exist today, the Conroy Skymonster (still exists but hasn't flown in quite a while), Boeing Dreamlifters, Airbus Beluga and Airbus Beluga XL aircraft all follow in the footsteps of the original Guppies.
What would the world do without people of ambition, vision, and determination? He definitely made an indelible mark on aviation.
Had the same thought...So many times - and pretty much all around the world it seems... great things are done by a combination of "normal" organisations (both Government and private) AND these occasional maverick types that push sometimes outlandish ideas to such good effect...
The Pregnant Guppy is a wonder to watch fly... It often lands nose wheel first followed by the mains.
An interesting side note to this that I’ve heard somewhere is that the Saunders-Roe Princess, a gigantic flying boat built in the U.K., and like many projects here, cancelled after flying, was considered by Conroy for such a purpose. Sadly the airframes were found to be too badly corroded due to poor storage methods (on a slipway next to the ocean), though there is a quip attributed to Conroy whereby he said the British “were offended when we named our aircraft ‘The Pregnant Guppy’. Man, can you imagine what they would have said if we produced ‘The Pregnant Princess’!”.
I'm offended that you are stuck on pregnant.
Not a species on this planet that births live young from it's backside nor has to be bisected to birth.
I doubt this plane ever flew inverted unless it was on that napkin during one of those liquid lunches.
A reference to a Hunchback or Brain Tumor or Whale considering this things appearance and the times.
🤣
I had heard of the Pregnant Guppy, but didn't know much about it other than it's unusual shape. Now I know the rest of the story. Thanks THG.
I'm the opposite. I'd heard of the Super Guppy but never knew its lineage.
“Paul Harvey….good day.”
Here...here...
@@Cydonia2020 I miss him so much. We always wanted to be on his Tournament of Roses.
I was able to see and put my hands on one of the "Super Guppy's" at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscon, AZ last year. It is an awesome place to visit and has many historical planes in its collection.... A true must visit museum
Been there - it is a truly amazing museum
I have read that it is in flyable condition but it does not look maintained to me. Has the status changed or is it still sitting out on display?
@@hubriswonk it was outside “on display” in a “mothballed” condition. It most likely was still airworthy but would need a lot to make it flight ready.
@@richardfowler3254 It probably has not moved since I was last there 9 years ago. I cannot imagine that bird flying even back then.
The coolest plane there is the Sikorsky S-43 of which there are only 3 left. The one they have was setting up on blocks missing a wheel. Kemit Weeks has Howard Hughes'.
@@hubriswonk you are correct, I am looking forward to the new exhibit they have coming which is military vehicles, they were fundraising for the new exhibits (we donated) and want to go back when it is cooler weather. I also want to visit the Titan II missile museum next time I am in the area…
Jack Conroy was a guest on"What's My Line" in 1955. His occupation was listed as swimming pool builder. As a parting note they mentioned that he had recently set the coast to coast round trip record in a F86 Sabre jet. Looks like he made a lot of progress between then and 1960.
I love anytime you do history on the space program. As I may have mentioned before, I grew up in Orlando, so I saw all of the original Apollo launches either from my backyard or (in the case of Apollo 17) from only a few miles away. No words can describe how incredible it is to watch a Saturn V launch-especially at night!
The people involved were amazing.
I saw that launch....from western South Carolina! Low on the horizon, but easily visible.
@@clazy8 A large number of amazing people.We could go all day naming them.Gene Kranz and Jim Lovell were at the top of the list.Maybe not to everyone.
My dad worked for North American Rockwell in the space division. I recall seeing one or more of the large transports outside of the LA airport on several occasions.
Something like this could not and would not happen today. Mover and shaker indeed.
I got see the “Pregnant Guppy” at the Pima Aerospace Museum in Tucson! It’s beautiful.
Love that wall light. Kirk and Spock on the shelf. Awesome
And a Dalek being held up by Marvin the Martian
I remember building the plastic kit of this as a kid . all the men in my family were involved in the moon landing project in Southern California aerospace. if it wasn't for people thinking outside of the box we never would have got to the Moon !
I don't see how thinking of transporting 14,000 lbs 3000 miles by AIR is outside the box for NASA.
This narrative that Vern Von Braun had to personally vouch for this aircraft against NASA's recommendations is absurd.
Why would a group of aeronautical engineers not have faith in this aircraft but have their sights set on the Moon?
Only the Army and Navy lost funding for the safe transport of "Classified" NASA deliveries.
That's who'd pitch the fit, until this point, when the payload got so big and fragile, that a Start-Up Civilian Contractor was used.
@@truthsRsung I see the logic of your comment . If you understand that most everything from the beginning in Kitty hawk of powered flight truly remarkable was done by newcomers in a time when people with practically experience as opposed to knowing how to run a CAD program we're the ones getting things done . That's not to say they weren't great advances in bureaucracies I just don't know of too many ... Please go and study Kelly's architecture of the skunk works there is no fat and no tolerance of it
@@truthsRsung I do remember being coached before I would speak to doctor von Braun because I was just a kid and he didn't speak with children much !
@@breth8159 ...I usually refrain from reading about people who dedicate themselves to advancements in killing other people.
Imagine what could have been accomplished by the human race if the world's defense budgets had been used for peaceful purposes.
@@breth8159 ...What kind of coaching?
I believe that if you can't explain something to a five year old, it is evil.
Like how he enjoyed a salary free labor force for the first half of his life.
Folks who don't spend time with children don't care about the next generation of humans who have to put up with the fuel production contamination (look up SuperFundSites,) Nuclear reactors falling from the sky, (Soviets cutting corners to compete,) or any of the countless other sacrifices made in this endeavour.
Just look what has happened since we decided to advance our understanding of Genetics.
The fear before we started was a group creating a Super-Human.
Instead we get Super-Viruses from a lab of "Scientists" who can't keep a lid on their research being funded from the other side of the planet.
Does technology solve our problems or just create more complicated ones?
I can't imagine how the trip humans made to Earth's Moon has benefitted my life.
Remind me of one before I go back to believing it's made of cheese.
I've long known of the Pregnant Guppy and Super Guppy but never knew the details of how it was developed. Fascinating stuff!
Such a Great service you are providing,to think all these interesting historical events and facts,would be lost into oblivion. I ENJOY it more now as a middle aged adult...Thank you Sir.
I grew up near Huntsville AL in the 60’s and 70’s. I remember watching the Guppies and the shuttle on its 747 come to land at the Redstone arsenal.
As usual, a STELLAR video! Yet again, more knowledge packed into fifteen minutes that I didn't know I needed.
I like the neon over your shoulder, too.
The rocket shell, a large diameter tube that was all hollow, was built at Aerojet General in California. They were then trucked to Mather AFB. In the late 60s, I was stationed at Mather AFB at Rancho Cordova, just outside of Sacramento. A Pregnant Guppy would land at Mather to on-load the rocket shell for air transport to Cape Canaveral/Kennedy.
This routinely occurred a couple of weeks prior to a scheduled launch date - a classified event. A pregnant Guppy is a big, odd looking aircraft; it sticks out like the Seattle Space Needle. My grade school kids would see it and casually remark, “Oh, there’s going to be a space shot in two weeks.” Military kids live as citizens of the world, and get to see many things that others do not.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Thank you for nailing down just well Classified projects remain Secret.
If the military couldn't fool 6-10 year olds, why bother?
The Pregnant Guppy and Super Guppy were regular visitors to Davis Monthan AFB in 1969 and 1970 when I was a young F-4C crew chief stationed there. Amazing aircraft to see flying.
Good ol' american innovation!!
Those early days of the space race are so fascinating and inspiring.
I’ve been inside the one at the Tilamook aviation museum in Oregon. It’s an impressive aircraft.
I always enjoy learning behind the scenes elements to historic events I well remember. Great presentation. Thank you.
I was in grade school at the time. I saw it fly out of Long Beach CA airport. It was huge!! Sure was the talk of the town.
Good show history Guy.. In 1954 I flew from Honolulu to San Francisco on a Martin Mars. 😃
Back in the Saddle Again. GIDDY UP!
Out where a friend is a friend
@@Mike-DuBose That's right Pardner!
I was a child in the late fifties and early sixties. My family lived in Lakewood, CA, right across the road from Douglas Aircraft. I saw all kinds of aircraft flying in and out of Long Beach Airport, and I remember seeing the PG and SPG Guppys. I remember they were fascinating to watch.
Fascinating. We used to see a Super Guppy regularly here in Bristol, UK, as Airbus used them to ferry partially assembled aircraft between their Filton and Toulouse facilities.
That’s the Airbus Beluga
@@roryoconnor4989 Airbus operated both types over the years.
@@pj_naylor apologies! I stand corrected
There is an Arvo Space Lines Mini Guppy at the Tillamook Air Museum on display in Oregon south of Portland. The Museum has several Historic Aircraft and is largely in side of an old Blimp Hanger, which is itself something to see do to it's massive size.
There is a Guppy at the air museum in Tillamook, Oregon. It was used by Erickson aircrane to transport Aircrane Helicopters. for a number of years it was based in Medford Oregon at Erickson's base at the time I was working as co-pilot for Butler aircraft. Airtanker crew . We were flying DC7's. every now and then the Guppy would have to go out on a mission, the forR-4360's, 28 cylinder engines would put out amazing amounts of oil smoke when they were started especially if they were cold. (The R-3350's 18cyl wrights on the "7" were no slouch either at smoky cold starts.) More than once the local fire lookouts would report a grassfire at the Airport because of the huge cloud of blue smoke at the airport.
Didn't have any problem with mosquitoes, however.
Thanks for this episode. Growing up in So Cal in the sixties I remember seeing them flying many times.
The Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon has a "Mini Guppy" in its collection. Can be seen on Google Earth.
I have seen the guppy at Tillamook and was able to go inside from the rear and walk up to the cockpit which was fenced off to prevent further damage by people. I believe on the outside it said Erickson on it.
So much better to visit! One of the great -- and weird -- air museums in the nation.
I had never heard of this before. It's always great to find these hidden gems.
Growing up in Florida from the early 50's on we often saw the PG flying in. What an amazing time to be born!
Fascinating! It shows what determination can do.
This was one of my favorites! Thanks!
I remember seeing a couple of guppies take off at Lindbergh field in San Diego in December 1971, during Christmas rush while waiting several hours for my flight out.
Fantastic story!
I grew up next to Long Beach Airport, where McDonald Douglas was headquartered. I remember as a kid back in the 1960s watching the Guppy take off. North American Rockwell was nearby and they built the Apollo capsule. They transported it to the airport where the Guppy would transport it. I got to see a capule being delivered once. I still remember that moment to this day.
The super guppy is frequently parked outside of the NASA hanger here at the El Paso International airport. It always makes me smile. Lol
The pride I have in knowing my father worked for Douglas during those years, is overwhelming, he is still kicken at 93 having spent over 45 years with the company Thanks Dad and to all the Dads and Moms having had a hand in the origins of the space race and to history ...well done.
thanks! i always welcome videos about the space program!
This was and is the type of story that got you to where you are. Great.
Amazing. Thank you, THG!
I like the neon sign ! And I remember seeing this aircraft on television.
Outstanding. Thanks
You just filled in a noticeable gap in my knowledge of one of the strangest planes to grace our skies! TX!
Terrific happy post. Loved it. My brother worked at Cape Canaveral
Growing up in San Diego in the 60's and early 70's, my sister and I used to see either the Pregnant Guppy or the later Super Guppy (which we called the whale) several times a week; they were so unusual we loved to see them fly over on the way to Lindbergh Field, where Lockheed's facility was located.
You mean to say that a woman wouldn't consider "Pregnant" a good name for an aircraft with a growth on its back?
huh
As kids we just thought the Super Guppy looked like a whale.
@@weepat5325 ...Good.
It does.
Not one species on this planet births from it's backside.
@@truthsRsung Thats not actually true. The Surinam toad (Scientific name: Pipa pipa) births its young from its back. The eggs are sealed in the back skin and when the hatch they break through the skin ans swim away. The mother is left with a back full of holes from the 100 or so babies she just birthed.
@@JessHull ...Did I not say birth their live young from their backside?
I meant to refer to species who care enough about their offspring to teach them a few things after birth and feed them.
Like humans are supposed to.
I love the Guppy I got to tour the remaining Super Guppy when it was at Tinker AFB for work and Paint. Wonderful aircraft the maintenance crew was here with it and told us a lot about it. Thank you for covering this amazing Aircraft
Thanks for the story! There is a Mini Guppy Boeing 377 Stratocaster on display at the Tillamook Oregon Air Museum.
If you're ever around Pima and and Space museum, there is a Super Guppy in their inventory. You can't go inside, but the sheer size of it is amazing to look at.
I love this airplane for the simple fact that at first glance it's appearance is so ridiculous and surely it is some kind of joke and couldn't possibly leave the ground. Yet through a mixing of parts and pieces and clever engineering an aircraft was produced that not only help put us on the moon but continued to have an incredible impact moving oversized loads for modern aviation programs. Found a Aero space lines model on eBay a few years ago but seeing the one at Pima was amazing. Great Video, thanks
I got to walk inside of the Pregnant Guppy as a boy in So. Cal. sometime in the late 1960s. I remember it was an impressive space and very odd looking aircraft.
Thanks for yet another great video!
Excellent work on an obscure story!
Never watched one of your presentations without being educated and entertained.
This reminds me of a guy I was talking to today about how he bought out a small trucking company then learned to drive a truck, too many people don't get the entrepreneurial spirit of risk and reward
The pregnant guppy sure left behind many offsprings.
In 01 I was working at a small chem plant, adjacent to Ellington field, Houston. Looked up and saw a guppy coming in for landing. Impressive and at the same time; funny lookin 👍
There is a lot of great history to remember from our space race!
I was hesitant to watch this video, thinking I already knew about the Pregnant Guppy, but I'm glad I did. You covered a side of its history that I'd never heard about before.
Very interesting ac count of a unique airplane. During my flying career, which began in 1965, I was fortunate enough to share some tarmac space with the Super Guppy on two occasions, To see it on the ramp next to normal sized aircraft was something I will never forget. Thanks for a great video!
I’ve worked at JSC in Houston since ‘89. I remember seeing the Super Guppy out at Ellington field North of the Center. Amazing thing to watch fly.
One of FAVORITES!! Thankyou History Guy!!!!
Wonderful presentation. As a life log space nerd, pilot and mechanic these stories are my cup of tea.
And here I was all along thinking non-catastrophic decompression.
:-p. Nice work per usual.
Good Job!
I’ve seen it several times at NASA JSC in Houston.
That was a nice trip down history lane, thank you. I was working in Hamburg, Germany in the ‘80s and Airbus would bring in parts for assembly in Super Guppies, flying very low over the river - a sight both amusing and awe-inspiring for brazenness in engineering :)
I worked for Grumman Aerospace while in college from 1967 till 1970. The PG landed at Grumman’s Bethpage Long Island NY to transport the LEM ( Lunar Excursion Module). It was really something to watch as it took off over the suburban neighborhood 👨🏻✈️
This is an awesome subject! Thank you
I've said it many times before but this needs a Saturday or Sunday morning show on TV. Absolutely great channel.
I love stories of great tenacity like this one, and learned something new to me in the process. Excellent video.
Super Guppy lives in El Paso TX at the airport. It's visible from the road behind the NASA hangar and takes flight every now and then.
Outstanding ! Saw a "guppy" at the Pima air museum in Arizona, some years ago, I believe. Amazing aircraft. Thanks for the story.
My Dad worked in the aerospace field in the 80's and took me up to Oxnard Ca, to pick up his toolbox at a airfield/port and the white and red Pregnant Super Guppy was parked out there and we went inside it and sat in the cockpit and that aircraft was big! and lot's of controls just amazing too see, I was 14 teen at the time.
I lived in Shasta county, in northern California in the 80s. I used to see a guppy that flew out of Redding municipal airport regularly. It was in and out of there for quite a while. Never found out what it was doing 150 miles south of the Oregon border. I was an airplane enthusiast from the time I was a small child, and it flew only a few miles from my house where it was very visible to me. So identifying it was easy.
It was owned by Erickson Air Crane based in Central Point Oregon. It's living out its days parked outside at the Tillamook air museum.
I really enjoy your splash screen/ intro graphics and I look for them every time. And they always delight me. Keep it up. Whoever's doing that. Please give them my admiration and gratitude.
I am inspired by the stories of visionaries who succeed in spite of naysayers. May we always have people who think outside of the box. Thanks History Guy!
We used to see the Guppies at Van Nuys airport all the time. The shape was bizarre and they were huge. We were always delighted to see one flying!
This is one of my favorite episodes ever! I smiled the entire time.
Incredible!
I lived in Southern California when I was a kid during the 1960s and used to see that Pregnant Guppy fly over all the time and always wondered WTF kind'o plain is that...?!
So now I know,
it was built for carrying those stages of the big space rockets.
Good video,, certainly clears up that mystery..
I grew up in El Paso, TX in the 80s and it was a regular refuelling stop for the Guppies so got to see them semi-regularly too. They also carried other oversized stuff. Oil and gas industry mostly IIRC.
As a young child in Hicksville, Long Island NY, I can recall many flights which flew over the house. The pregnant guppy was very cool!
As Always , another wonderful Trip with THC Thank you !
Thanks Mr THG🎀👀🇺🇸👍
I just ran across your channel. This was a great video on the creation of the pregnant guppy…. Keep up the good work….
Having grown up during the space race, I was never aware this aircraft! Thanks for another great video!
It sounds like the bumblebee of plains lol
An AERO SPACELINES 377-SG “SUPER GUPPY” can be seen at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson AZ.
Great story, as always. But even more so.
I've never seen this plane, but the Airbus "Whale" quite often flies over our road. It's enormous
Another great story which brings back memories, I remember being a young kid back in Santa Barbara and seeing the planes being built at the airport in Goleta. In fact he hangers are they're still in use today and are being used by Fed Ex.
I saw them there at S BA too.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video.
I didn't know the Guppy had such an amazing history.
When I was an elementary school student at Jane Addams in North Long Beach, we were about 2.5 miles from the departure end of runway 30 at Long Beach airport and directly under the flight path. Back in the day, the McDonnell Douglas Factory was right there on the North Side of the airport and I frequently remember watching the weird fat plane fly over the school. The first time it happened I remember my teacher telling me it was the Pregnant Guppy aircraft. It was a marvel to watch this huge lumbering plane fly over and at relatively low altitude. Glad you remembered it for all to experience.
Spectacular job Brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for taking us on your adventure through time and space ⏰️🚀
This was an exceptional episode
As always thank you so very much for the video.
I especially appreciated this one as I came across pictures of some of these planes in my Jr. High library in the early 70's, and every time a big plane would fly overhead on it's way to nearby Moffett Field I'd look up quietly hoping... alas I never did see on "live" but I still have a fondness for these big planes pictures and stories.
Another cool video from the History Guy! When I was a boy, my friends and I were excited to see the bizarre plane coming and going from Grumman airport on Long Island, New York, around 1969-70. The lunar modules were built there, so I suppose the Guppies were transporting them to Cape Kennedy.
Thanks for an interesting presentation on an aspect of the space program I was unaware of.
Lance, you dig up some amazing stuff. I had forgotten all about the PG... but I'm so glad that you took the time to tell its story!
I got to go up one of the Super Guppies in the early 80s when I was in the Air Force. What a neat looking craft.
I saw the PG fly into the airforce base near NASA in Houston in the 1980s and often wandered why such a peculiar plane would be needed. Thank you for clearing that up history guy. You really do have all the answers.