BOEING 377MG

"MINI GUPPIE"

This Mini Guppie landed at the Muscle Shoals Airport right after an airshow in 1989. The first indication that we had of it's arrival was when the pilot reported downwind for the active runway. I looked at my brother-in-law and said "did that guy say mini guppie?" We went outside the hangar and there it was, turning base to final, this monster of an aircraft. It taxied right to where we were standing and the engines shut down. The crew was extremely nice, answered all of our questions, and invited everyone there to tour the aircraft unescorted. I happened to have my camera and shot a few pictures and the next day I returned with a video camera. This airplane is no longer in service and is mothballed in Washington state.

TOP IT OFF!!!
The FBO had to order an additional load of avgas for this thirsty bird. After fueling it took everyone standing and jumping on the tug with it's tires squealing and smoking to pull it back from the fuel island.

A shot of the cockpit, the engineers panel is on the right. Just aft of this position are two rows of regular airline seats for transporting the crew.

It was huge inside, you could play mile high football in here. The bright areas on the sides were windows that are located in the black stripe in the above photos.

Preparing to unload the special cradle that would support the Sky Crane in the background.

This Sky Crane was disassembled and slid in the back of the Mini Guppie on this special cradle. You can see the rotor blades underneath as they prepared to remove the landing gear legs.