Feeding the Guppy

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 06/25/2018 at 09:15 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik

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Workers at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California load two Northrop T-38 Talon’s into NASA’s Super Guppy Transport for a flight to El Paso. While it seems like it would be easier to simply fly the two Talons from the California desert to El Paso, the trainers haven’t been flown in years and are no longer airworthy. These Talons instead will serve as organ donors and be cannibalized for parts before the remainder of the aircraft are transferred to the Aerospace Maintenance and Recovery Center adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona.

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Nibby > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 09:18

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fun fact, some tiger sharks eat each other in the womb

OPPOsaurus WRX > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 09:26

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I kinda thought it would be a spitter, but to each their own I guess.

InFierority Complex > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 09:32

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I would see the Super Guppy all the time when I lived in El Paso. IRRC you can see its parking spot from the road pretty clearly. My coworkers always seemed to be less enthusiastic when I pointed it out.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 09:34

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Granted the T-38 is getting long in the tooth and we need some new supersonic trainers.  Instead of reinventing the wheel, why don’t we take a design that has proven to be a rugged, effective, cheap to run supersonic trainer for 50 years now and build some more?  Especially now that it seems the T-X program is more or less dormant.  I can see updating the avionics on it, but really what more does the T-38 need to continue to be relevant as a trainer?

f86sabre > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 06/25/2018 at 09:41

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Tooling and supplier base. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 09:50

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That’s just impressive as all h ell that you can fit two T-38s side-by-side in a Guppy without removing their wings.

ttyymmnn > user314 06/25/2018 at 10:02

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That was my thought as well. It’s a testament to the fact that each aircraft is at opposite ends of the size spectrum.

AuthiCooper1300 > Nibby 06/25/2018 at 10:08

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T i g e r s h a r k s , h u h ?

Nibby > AuthiCooper1300 06/25/2018 at 10:16

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that’s why they make so many of ‘em, only a few of them actually survive the manufacturing process

AuthiCooper1300 > Nibby 06/25/2018 at 10:19

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Evolution, natch. Survival of the fittest e t c .

‘Tis a pity the same happened to the F-20.

CaptDale - is secretly British > ttyymmnn 06/25/2018 at 14:09

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I think that would be a really cool private jet to own... I want one

ttyymmnn > CaptDale - is secretly British 06/25/2018 at 23:17

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This one is privately owned, by H. Ross Perot’s son. But then again, if you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.

CaptDale - is secretly British > ttyymmnn 06/26/2018 at 11:46

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Oh yeah I can’t even afford the pilot’s licence .