Super Guppy Walkaround Documentary 

By far one of the best walk through and talk through I have seen for any aircraft aside from going through a ground school for a type rating!!! Great job to all the NASA crew at Ellington and to you Erik Johnson for taking the time to document all of this! Wow…what a dinosaur that old bird is to maintain. Thank you again!

Before the Dreamlifter & Airbus Beluga there was the Supper Guppy. This plane is a legend. Great to see it still in use. It is a rare aircraft.

I’ve watched a number of these walk-arounds now and I’m always amazed at the in-depth, up-close look at the aircraft and systems. Unfortunately, many of the tour guides, whatever their relationship with the aircraft, are not always articulate or well-spoken. (Hey, I get it. They’re doing their best, and to be fair it’s not their day job.) This gentleman however, is both very knowledgeable, and also well-spoken and articulate. A natural “explainer” and teacher. Very enjoyable. Well done!

Man this walk thru brings a lot of memories of when I work for Aero Space lines / Tracor aviation I work on the last two aircraft. The wings and the nose section along with the tail section were refurbished in Goleta, California. the center section that the wings mount too was a new assembly all done in Goleta. then flown to Air Bus in France. The crew I work with assembled new engine nacelles all out of stainless steel. We also installed them on the wings. I hand made most of the removable access panels used on the engine nacelles. Its nice to see NASA keep it flying...

now i got my answer. all these while i was wondering what happened to all those cables and hyd lines when the guppy nose is in opened position. pls keep the super guppy flying. the last and the only one. an awesome piece of aviation engineering. awesome work, gents!

I am in awe of the accumulated experience, knowledge, skill and ability among the small group of men who keep this aircraft preforming its missions. Hats off to their expertise.

Really interesting and engaging, big thanks. Iconic aircraft. Can't beat old school engineering.

Your standard 18 wheeler has a payload of 42-45k lbs, this is an amazing machine!

Growing up on Edwards AFB it was always amazing to see this bird when it came in and left.

Really, really enjoyed that exclusive access behind the scenes demonstrating what enables that unusual aircraft to do what it does. David Elliot did an excellent job of explaining everything!

Amazing plane that should be preserved forever. I love it!!!

Did summer work at NASA years ago and remember seeing and getting a tour of this plane when it came into Marshall Space Flight Center. What a freaky plane it is. It would come in to pick up pieces of the space station.

Erik....never stop doing videos like this! I want to see every aircraft of the world with this level of detail.

There's something magical on how the pilots/engineers have so much respect for the work of everyone else on the ground. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their plane, they're humble and acknowledge that it takes team effort to keep this bird running like clockwork.

Love those Apollo style switches for ground/flight idle. Seems fitting for a NASA plane.

Always loved these aircraft. I've seen SG4 in person twice. Such a wonderfully absurd character it is. Amazing something so loveable can come from a need of pure utility. Looking in detail at the hodgepodge it is reminds me of just how incredible it is that one of these is still flying.

What a complex machine that is. The engineering that has gone into this is incredible and you would never know unless you watched this!

I love how much B-29 that can still be identified on it. The flaps and gear and emergency gear extension especially seem identical as well as a lot of the fixtures and controls in the cockpit

Sitting around a bar.. writing on knapkings.. this is American ingenuity.. man this makes me proud

Fascinating. It's a bastardized Lockheed/Boeing with a mish-mash of customizations. I love it.

Erik, Thank you for this! What an amazing airplane. My father was a USAAF B-29 navigator 1944-45.

I love that they have so much passion for this plane and their job's. It's refreshing and super interesting to hear the history of this beautiful aircraft

An inspiring documentation of team work by flight and ground crews. The professionalism in this video are the type of people you want to work with. The cooperation in creating this detailed video cant be complimented enough. This video was no small task to create for us novices to learn and enjoy. Bravo !

Excellent work, I was flight deck AE on the USS Shangri-la.

Please tell me this is a preservation piece.. and what’s even more mind blowing… is that the Boeing 377 stratocrusier.. which the Guppy line is based.. was made in 1949… which technically makes these some of the oldest planes that are still airworthy! good to see them still intact though! (I’m also very jealous that you get to see one 😅 it’s been a mission of mine lol)

Oh wow, I know what I'll be doing the next 2,5 hours 🥳

Man you'd have to have a good memory to remember everything, leaves me put.

What a fantastic video and what a great guy who is passionate about his aircraft and knows every inch of it and is generous with his time 👍 I hope he reads the comments here.

What a weird airplane! You can tell this crew loves it and takes pride in the care and maintenance.

Used to see these fly into Woodford Britsh Aerospace, UK... a marvel to see flying

One of these came thru Dover AFB around 1975, I worked Transit Maint. at that time ...

WOW! What a story behind this odd aircraft. Amazing what has to take place just to load/unload. One of your best yet Erik. Really enjoy when your videos go into detail and history. Keep the great work. OUTSTANDING!!

Cool seeing vestiges of the KC-97 I used to know, work and fly on well over half a century ago in the Strategic Air Command.

Loved the video after a lifetime around aircraft and now long time retired it sure brought a lot of memories back. Bravo keep them coming.

Always wondered how the opening of this aircraft was achieved. Being a mechanic, I thought about the detachment of flight controls: Thinking it had to be cables rather than hydraulics. ( Really? Copious fluid replacement and cleanup?) OR fly by wire, but anyway, this was a completely informative video, that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not surprised, however, that it takes SO many skilled people to load and unload this. But I had no idea of the scale of personnel that this actually involves. Wondering how the hell they do this? CHECK! This off my mindset of mechanical bucket list. Fly on! And thank you!

This was an amazing video, far better than I ever thought it would be. Well worth the time to watch it. So much cool info. Thanks. One comment though, I've spent more than a few decades working on aircraft and ramps, ...those are absolutely the nicest wheel chocks I've ever seen. She deserves them. Thanks again!

The quick disconnects and blocks on the flight control cables is terrifying to me. So easy to forget and not have control.

Caught a glimpse of the original guppy flying over central florida towards the cape about 1974. It had an orange stripe iirc.

What a group of nice guys taking their time and so much nice tidbits on the Frankenstein nature and the technical details The Pilot has a bit of a Wolverine vibe with the sideburns and the squared of top haircut 😂😂🎉

Being the older son of an ex Air force cargo officer, I simply. This is quite a very interesting video

Absolutely the BEST doc I have ever watched! Makes one feel like you are actually riding along on the flight! Thank you very much!👍🇨🇦

Loved it!! Thanks for the super detailed walk around, it was great to see so much of the airplane and its operations!! Looks like you and Gary were having a good time!

Cloth surfaces totally caught me by surprise. Soooo interesting.

Thanks. As a trained professional pilot I have always wondered about the Guppy. I wasn't aware that it was such a fascinating Frankenstein aircraft. A beauty if you ask me, and something I really would have loved to be a part of!

This is awesome!! I watched them load the LEM into a Guppy at Andrews AFB a very long time ago. No idea how involved it was. Thank you for doing and sharing this!

สวยลักษณะ.แกร่ง..เทคโน.!ฟังค์ชันสวยมากครับ

What a great M.C you got here real fighter pilot down to earth in his words great to hear. We need more guy's like him showing there hard ware

Good memories. I flew P-3s with the same engine start procedures 40 years ago. How do you keep the metal so shiny?

What a great job with your documentation. This video made me thing I was back on the (40+years ago. McClellan 940th AFB)tarmac. I started watching this and keeping eye on the stock ticker.This video was so good that I missed two trades, but it was worth it. The walk around was one of the best I’ve seen. Please keep up the excellent work. The editor gets 10 out of 5 stars, it’s that good. And the your crew are due the same accolades. Can’t wait for the next aircraft.

Love this. Amazing detail you’d never find anywhere else! Now we need a Stratolaunch ROC video to go with it!

This is fantastic! My father was in charge of ground support for the Apollo Lunar lander for Grumman.. He used the Pregnant Guppy to deliver to KSC. So many memories. I have his old Apollo manuals. He donated his Guppy manuals to the Pima Air Museum.

The engineering of this thing is awesome. Thank you for this.

B52 tires and C130 propellers. Reminds me of building my own bicycle from parts in the early 1960’s.

Wow, this was cool. Hats off to ALL the people who designed, built and operate this thing. So cool!

Flight instruments are more basic than you would see on a Cessna or Piper nowadays. Amazing.

Very knowledgeable people, it was very enjoyable to watch this very detailed program.

what an incredible plane and 50 meters of checklist

I can call myself fortunate to be from and live in El Paso, TX where the NASA Super Guppy is basically stationed. I absolutely LOVE aviation and I'm hoping to one day get my pilots license. I even like to fly on Microsoft Flight Simulator as well. Anyways, I just saw it take off a few weeks ago while heading to work (the airport). Watching this video has left me with my jaw dropped a bit as to how she was constructed and how she flies. I wonder where this was filmed. Overall, what an amazing video Erik. Congratulations on earning a new subscriber!

I saw one at Dyess AFB in about 1973. Back then, it belonged to Aero Spacelines..

Erik, I am a big fan of your videos and walkarounds, and this is definitely one of the best. What an amazing machine! I'm jealous that you got to see it up close and personal. Thanks for sharing!

Is this fella a pilot or engineer? What an incredible degree of knowledge and very well done. Thank you for sharing with us.

Evergreen air museum in Oregon has a Guppy, just a few miles from me.

Just amazing. Thank you for the opportunity to view the interior and exterior of such a unique aircraft- what a marvelous channel 👍

Discipline, practice, proud and teamwork in this amazing two day sneak pick of the Super Guppy crew life... I loved it! I never forward it nor speed it up... It was like the real thing experience!... Hope this unique aicraft and crew lasts forever!

So very well done! And what a crew! Thank you for this and our gratitude to them

I saw it fly over me headed into Wright Patterson AFB delivering the space shuttle crew trainer mock-up.

C 130s and P 3s used the same engines. So the props certainly should work just fine.

This was an amazing documentary on the Supper Guppy. Thank you! Glad I found you channel and subscribed.

I'm watching the cockpit breakdown and I started busting up because I realized engine #1 is outside the window! Not many planes can do that. I can't stop laughing

Great stuff! Amazing to see all the ins and outs, nooks and crannys!

Disappointed that you did not start off with an overview shot of the aircraft so I can see how it looks. The details of course are great to see, but for those unfamiliar with it can follow along better if we get a chance to see it as a whole aircraft first.

So much interesting engineering, aviation, history and more in a very well shot video. Thank you!

I think the USAF retained the two C-5C's for the loads the Superguppy can't carry. I helped these guys load a T-38 at Tinker that had taken a bird strike, think we had to remove the wingtips for it to fit.

What a magnificent flying machine. And this is the best video tour of a plane I've ever seen. Bravo, and thank you. Really interesting.

a Absolutely amazing aircraft!

The detail is excellent, good work. Keep them coming. Cheers from Canada!

Now that was cool!!!!!! I enjoyed the heck out of that.... Only thing to make it better would have been a flight!

29:18 - unique view of the engine from a cockpit! 😄😄😄😄

When I lived in Runcorn England we used to see the Guppy going in to Hawarden airfield to pick up Airbus wings nearly every week. Now we see the Beluga.

Surprising mix of electric mechanical and hydraulic actuators in these planes systems..

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing, reminded me of being at an air show in the 80's :)

This guy is on point talk about attention to detail has my attention. Great video.

Great video, great talk, great tour of the aircraft! I really appreciate it. The next big thing will be the 360 and VR versions.

Nice plane , it is a cool vintage cargo plane !

Fascinating content. Thank you for sharing this unique aircraft with us.

That was very enjoyable to watch, WELL DONE GENTLEMEN!

I remember when the guppy was at home in Goleta CA. Cool airplane

Amazing chance to see such an incredible aircraft up close and personal!

This video will be playing a hundred years from now at the National Air and Space museum at the Super Guppy exhibit.

You better follow the procedure by the book if you don't want to see the all thing split in half in midair....

Thank you for these videos, they are so informative and enjoyable!

not the kind of detailed air-compressed tour of the plane I deserve but here I am.

Amazing video! Every detail that I always wanted to know.

Great video on a very complicated plane.

Only thing I can say is Wow! Wow! Wow! Thank you very much.

I've never flown before but now I want to this thing looks like it's worth the ride down if it goes that way

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING !!! 👁️👃🏻👁️🙏🏻

It appears there is more detail to swinging and returning the nose than flying the plane.

Anybody can fly an airplane long as there’s no crosswind . Loved doing that.. very challenging always

Excellent video, what an interesting 🤔 aircraft. 👍 to the entire Team 🇺🇸