Hidden in Plain Sight: What is the Super Guppy and why is there a NASA station in El Paso?
By Shanice Hernandez
Photos by Shanice Hernandez
The Apollo moon missions owe part of their success to NASA’s remarkable Super Guppy. Its hinged nose swings open 110 degrees, creating a cavernous front that made loading enormous, mission‑critical equipment fast and surprisingly effortless.
Dave Beltran, one of the four mechanics that work on the Super Guppy started in January 2020. He attended school in San Antonio and started his aviation career at Boeing Aerospace as a tank diver. “I used to go inside fuel tanks,” Beltran says. He then went on to work on KC-135s and then jumped to C-17s, KC-10s and C-130s. “I worked at the airport in San Antonio where I started working on different aircraft like MD-11s and Sea Airbus,” Beltran says. His main expertise now is sheet metal, which brought him to working on the Super Guppy.
“It’s a bunch of planes put together so it’s really hard to work on a plane like this. It’s like a Frankenstein,” Beltran says excitedly. All four mechanics fly with the Super Guppy wherever the Super Guppy goes.
“This is not your typical Southwest nice flight. It’s a hard flight because of the design of the aircraft so you feel everything,” but according to Beltran you get used to it after a while. “I just throw on my headsets. You pick movies, whatever, or you just sleep. You just go with the flow,” says Beltran.
Beltran went on to describe how intense a flight in this massive feat feels. “During takeoff, everything rattles inside. Everything. It feels like you’re going really fast, but the people outside are like, ‘No, you’re not.’ You’re not going anywhere at all,” Beltran says with a laugh.
“We’ve come a long way in aviation even with this plane. When you compare the Super Guppy to the Beluga, it is two totally different beasts. Even if you compare the other guppies and the way they’re designed,” Beltran says.
Prior to the Super Guppy, there was the pregnant guppy which transported NASA aircraft. The only time consuming issue was that the tail of the Pregnant Guppy would need to be fully detached from the plane in order to load any NASA equipment, then would need to be attached properly and carefully to ensure a safe ride to their destination.
Fun Fact: This particular Super Guppy was built in 1958, it was originally a KC-97 and it is currently the last of four Super Guppies made that is still in flight.
David Najera is a retired Navy officer and has worked at El Paso’s NASA’s base for four years.
“When Nasa first acquired the Super Guppy she was based out of Houston, but the environment in Houston is very corrosive,” Najera shared. Due to the proximity of the gulf coast, the humidity and the salt air was eating away at the aircraft. In an attempt to preserve the Super Guppy and prolong its life, NASA brought it here to El Paso because of its dry climate.
Many people don’t realize that there’s a NASA facility here in El Paso. “We’re hiding in plain sight. People drive by and they don’t know what this is. They think it’s a weather balloon or whatever their imagination leads them to believe,” Najera says.
What Najera wishes more people knew about the Super Guppy is the dedication it takes to work on this marvel. “It’s not easy. It’s hard on the body and it’s hard in general. We work long hours. We’re here early and we’re here late. This aircraft is outside so if it’s 110 degrees we’re outside working on it. If it’s 35 degrees outside, we’re wearing layers. So it’s truly a labor of love,” says Najera.
Every now and again, children come by to see the Super Guppy in all of it’s glory. For Najera and his team, seeing the sheer awe in their face is the most inspiring. “That’s inspiring the next generation of aviators, and inspiring the next generation of mechanics and so forth.”
To Najera, the Super Guppy symbolizes a quiet strength. “The Super Guppy is very behind the scenes, very quiet. She was a big part of the success in NASA’s history. The sheer history and impact she had on the US space race and what it meant for us to be the first ones out there to be on the moon and go back,” says Najera.
“She’s an unsung hero.”
The Super Guppy has been used for both commercial and private use, including for the Department of Defense and the space program for 12 years.
What makes the Super Guppy so special is that it’s an engineering marvel. “She has parts and pieces of other aircraft. We have P3 engines, C-130 props, brakes and wheels from the 52 bomber…” Najera lists off. They even have pieces of the KC-97. “So aspects from the Air Force, Navy aircraft and Marine Corps aircraft have all donated parts and pieces to make the Super Guppy fly,” says Najera.
One major takeaway from this all is that four all-star mechanics make the Super Guppy fly. “Those guys make miracles happen every day. To be able to jump from a marine corps prop to a Navy engine to an Air Force landing gear, to a bowing frame, it takes a special mechanic. Not everyone can do that. They’re the best of the best,” Najera says proudly.
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/jsc-aircraft-ops/guppy.html
