The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Turbines Story!

The first two of the four SGT-201 freighters ever built made their maiden flights in the early 1970s and were deployed by NASA in the Apollo programmes, for instance. Once the projects were discontinued, the French company Aéromaritime gave the Super Guppy registered as F-BTGV a new lease on life in November 1971 and the Super Guppy registered as F-BPPA a new start in August 1973 transporting the extremely large and heavy aircraft parts for the Concorde and Airbus models to the final assembly factory in Toulouse. Boasting a wingspan of 47.61 m and a height of 14.85 m, the Super Guppy reached speeds of 460 km/h at a peak altitude of 7620 m. The aircraft was given its distinct coloured livery and Airbus Skylink lettering on the fuselage in the 1980s.

The Super Guppy with its voluminous fuselage was in service for almost a quarter of a century, contributing to the success of Airbus, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, in a major way. The F-BTGV took to the skies for the last time on 1 July 1996, headed for the museum in Bruntingthorpe, England. There, from 2009 onwards, it was lovingly and devotedly maintained and restored by the “Super Guppy Restoration Project”. Eleven years later the Super Guppy had to leave, though, as the privately run museum closed its doors in March 2020 - the former exhibition space now in the hands of a car dealership.

A total of just five Super Guppies ever took to the skies and we are thrilled to now bring the historic freighter home to you as an Aviationtag. By the way, the freighters get their name from the guppy fish - a viviparous fish that has a hugely inflated belly when pregnant.