Operational History
In summer 1963, the Pregnant Guppy commenced cargo flights for NASA. 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 increased through the late 1960s, it became clear that this one aircraft could not carry the whole transport load, and 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. Leon Yarzab was assigned as its chief mechanic. It was broken up at Van Nuys in 1979.
Read more about this topic: Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy
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