How is a Guppy 201 loaded?

Short answer

From the front: the Guppy 201's nose is hinged and swings open 110 degrees, allowing nose-on loading. A lock-and-disconnect fitting at the fuselage joint opens and closes it without disturbing the flight-control rigging. The nose gear, taken from a Boeing 707 and rotated 180°, levels the cargo hold floor.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

NASA's Super Guppy N941NA rests in a Langley Research Center hangar

A nose that swings open 110 degrees

The entire forward fuselage is hinged and can open 110 degrees, allowing nose-on loading. This swing nose replaced the removable tail of the earlier Pregnant Guppy model. A lock-and-disconnect system at the fuselage joint allows the nose to open and close without disturbing the rigging of the flight and engine controls.

A level cargo floor

The nose landing gear came from a Boeing 707 and was fitted rotated 180°, which slightly lowered the front of the aircraft, levelled the cargo hold floor and simplified loading operations. The hold measures 111 × 25 × 25 ft (33.83 × 7.62 × 7.62 m). The SGT retained only the flight deck, wings, tail and main landing gear from the 377.

Five aircraft for aircraft parts

Five units were built in two variants, both colloquially known as "Super Guppy." In the early 1970s, Airbus used two SGTs to move aircraft parts from the production plants to the final assembly line in Toulouse. In 1982 and 1983, Union de Transports Aériens Industries built two more Super Guppy Turbines in France, after Airbus bought the manufacturing rights. All four Super Guppies were later replaced in that role by the Airbus Beluga, capable of carrying twice the payload by weight.