History of aviation – September 19, 1962. Security is at its maximum, this Wednesday, September 19, 1962: in fact, on this day, the very first flight of an Aero Spacelines aircraft will take place. The company which was created by John Conroy and Lee Mansdorf will thus fly its Pregnant Guppy, a device which raises a lot of questions, with some arguing that it would not be capable of flying.
It is above Van Nuys, a district of Los Angeles, that this inaugural flight of the Pregnant Guppy will take place, under the leadership of pilot John Conroy and co-pilot Clay Lacy. To ensure people’s safety, the police have been called, roads have been blocked and, above all, emergency services are there to intervene quickly in the event of a problem. It must be said that people will see a behemoth pass over their heads: no less than 13,155 kilograms, such is the cargo capacity of the cargo plane. The latter being based on a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, with a larger build of course.
This will be very useful to NASA, in particular, which is encountering problems with the delivery of parts for its Apollo program rocket.
