Airbus' Beluga: Giant of the skies set to get even larger

cnn ^

[Da Coyote]

Keep the thing away from thunderstorms.

Airbus has not exactly been scoring big in that arena.

[smokingfrog]

[Bobalu]

[BenLurkin]

Great pics!

[Right Brother]

That thing would look cool with a skull face painted on the front.

[Vinnie]

Not a new concept.
B-377SG Super Guppy Flew 1965
A modified Boeing Stratocruiser, which was a modified B-29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy

[Mr. K]

yes it wou!d or i am thinking a ‘predator’ mask or face

(even hang the dreadlocks off the sides)

Seriously, though, it looks a little top-heavy to me

[hoagy62]

It's got nothing on the Boeing Dreamlifter....

[moose07]

I see a triple decker airliner in that airframes future.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Not a new concept.

Airbus contracted with Aero Spacelines to buy the first two 377SGT Super Guppys and to have them build two more Super Guppys to use as part of their production-line process.

Eventually, all airplanes wear out, especially those used on a regular schedule. The Beluga was the replacement for their fleet of four Super Guppys.

The first was retired to British Aviation Heritage in Bruntingthorpe, England. Number two was retired to the Airbus final assembly plant in Toulouse, France. Number three is proudly parked in front of the main entrance of the DASA factory in Finkenwerder, Germany.

Number four, the 'youngest' of the 377SGT fleet, was acquired by NASA from the European Space Agency under an International Space Station barter agreement. ESA supplied the Guppy to offset the cost to NASA of carrying ESA experiment equipment to the station as part of two future Space Shuttle flights. It continues to soldier on carrying out-sized cargo for NASA.

See: All About Guppys

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

That thing would look cool with a skull face painted on the front.

Put Eric Holder's face on the front. His forehead would fit.

[stormer]

Those fly over my place on their approach to Paine - pretty impressive.

[Zeppo]

You'd think that rather than carrying the wings of an A340 airliner inside, they would figure out a way to just bolt those wings onto the fuselage of the aircraft as a sort of temporary biplane and simply fly them to their destination.

(Yes, I am kidding.)

[MrB]

“It’s NOT a toomah!”

[bgill]

Visions of I Dream of Jeannie when Jeannie didn’t want Maj. Nelson sailing on a big cement ship.

[Disambiguator]

That thing would look cool with a skull face painted on the front.

Or an alien. It has the same shape as the "typical" alien face.

[tanknetter]

It’s not that bad of an idea.

The 747 has a wing hardpoint (inside of the inner port engine) for ferrying an engine.

[WMarshal]

All you had to do was ask:

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Tiger Woods?