Canadair CL-44-O Guppy
The Canadair CL-44 Guppy was a one-off oversized-cargo conversion of the CL-44 transport, itself a stretched Britannia turboprop. Its entire rear fuselage and tail hinged open, allowing very large items to be loaded into an enlarged bulbous cabin. That swing-tail solution was an early answer to the same outsized-cargo problem later handled by aircraft such as the Beluga and Dreamlifter. With only one Guppy conversion, the type is genuinely unique.
_CL-44-O_Guppy_(12865384175).jpg){kind=link}
Did you know?
Its entire tail section swings open sideways, letting the CL-44 Guppy load oversized cargo no other aircraft of its day could carry.
Specifications
| Length | 41.7 m (137 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 43.4 m (142 ft) |
| Height | 12.8 m (42 ft) |
| Crew | 5 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 95 t |
| Range | 2,600 NM (4,815 km) |
| Maximum speed | 330 kt (611 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 25,000 ft (7,620 m) |
| Optimum ceiling | 25,000 ft (7,620 m) |
| Engines | 4x Rolls-Royce Tyne 515 |
| Units built | 1 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Canadair CL-44-O Guppy starts as a Legendary catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you. The first catch of a legendary type pays a bonus of its own.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Canadair, the CL-44-O Guppy family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
Catch it yourself.CatchFlights shows the aircraft flying near you on a radar, so a type like this one is only a catch away when it passes overhead. Explore CatchFlights.
Browse all aircraft types, or learn to tell Airbus from Boeing.