Nostalgia & History > Tillamook, OR. 2006

May 18, 2006 My wife and I were on a Coastal Cruise and we stopped in Astoria, Oregon. My wife
​signed us up for a trip down to Tillamook and a Air Museum plus a Tour of a famous Tillamook
Creamery in town.

​However I seemed to focus on something else which just happened to be (outside) at the Air Museum.
​Back in 2006 I was shooting slides and also had these put on a  CD.

#1.....Port of Tillamook Bay 3771 is ex SP 3771 I last saw in Exeter, California in 1993
​#2.....Different angle of the first shot. Also shows the ex Simpson ex UP caboose. Not sure
if the plane is what they called a Guppy (found at one time in Goleta, CA.)
#3.....The last shot is outside the Blimp Hangar that housed the Aviation Museum. I saw
the line up of SD9's and got this shot.

Need to go back and see what remains of what I saw in 2006.

​One question I have is did the Tillamook Creamery ever ship product by Rail as I found
no evidence they ever did while in town .

Thanks for looking

​Jay

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> ​#2.....Not sure if the plane is what they called a Guppy (found at one time in Goleta, CA.)

It was called a Super Guppy, to be exact.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 13:16 by johnsweetser.

To crank up the "exactness" another notch:  It appears to be a Mini-Guppy.  There were 3 different Guppy's: Pregnant, Super, and Mini.  This one is a Mini.  I think all but the Pregnant Guppy were built in Goleta (Santa Barbara).  The Mini's distinction was that the center section of the fuselage was built new, the others were built on the back of the "donor" Boeing. 
SR  (your font of useless info)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 18:25 by BoilingMan.

johnsweetser Wrote:
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> > ​#2.....Not sure if the plane is what they
> called a Guppy (found at one time in Goleta, CA.)
>
> It was called a Super Guppy, to be exact.
>

Goleta (Santa Barbara Airport) was where the Super Guppy was converted from the Boeing C-97 freighter. 

Nice story and photos.   Could one of the Guppy's flown in and out of Van Nuys Airport?   The name and image strikes a faint memory as a child...

Here's the inside of the Erickson Mini-Guppy that I photoed in mid-2012. An impressive aircraft. Sadly, by then that line of locomotives in your third photo had been replaced by a collection of rust that resembled steam and diesel locos. It was hard to look at. The weather in those climes is not kind. I'm surprised that nobody has weighed in on POTB's present situation. Martin?


EO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/17 06:26 by hogheaded.

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Yes, the original Pregnant Guppy was done in Van Nuys, then the whole operation moved to SB.
SR

My Dad had a plane during this period and we flew it out of SB. Aerospace Lines, that built the Guppy's, was making a spectacle of themselves turning these things out. You really couldn't miss them!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/17 06:28 by BoilingMan.

1-Map of the Port of Tillamook Bay RR that became the Salmonberry Trail.  Rail line cut off by massive rains and flooding.

2-March 20, 2016 found Sunset Timber 1 a Heisler built in 1913 rusting away at Tillamook Bay, Oregon.

Sad "ghost railroad" with no outside rail connection.  Same goes for the former Tillamook Air Museum - fading away...

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Another little side note, Conroy Avation was the designer and builder of them. Didnt know they were anywhere else than SB as saw the donor AC for the first turbine one sitting on the ramp there it was an Electra AC. Jack Conroy had drawings that I saw for a Guppy that was to use
B52 wings and engines that never went any further.  At least some were built on the ramp in the open at SB was down there doing some work on a Skymaster conversion while I was working for Robertson AC out of WA state. Just a little side note that few ever knew about but was shown the prelimanary drawings for that one.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, the original Pregnant Guppy was done in Van
> Nuys, then the whole operation moved to SB.
> SR
>
> My Dad had a plane during this period and we flew
> it out of SB. Aerospace Lines, that built the
> Guppy's, was making a spectacle of themselves
> turning these things out. You really couldn't miss
> them!

Yes, I remember the B-52 version.  The Guppy's mostly moved rocket boosters for NASA, I don't know what business model the B-52 version was aimed at.  The Pregnant Guppy had it's original round engines, the Super had turbo props, and I think there was more than one Mini- with both type engines.  Conroy also put turbo props on a DC-3 (C-47) and it was hoped this would be a big success and go into production- but it kinda of fizzled out.
Eventually the whole Guppy thing faded away and the facility set to working on 747's, which looked crazy big sitting in Santa Barbara!  (I'd have to believe they came in & out "moist" rather than "wet"!)   I don't know if Conroy was involved in the 747 work.
SR

One of those turbo prop C47s is used in Missoula for the firefighters to jump from.

It's not the Salmonberry Trail yet. Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad still leases 48 miles of it, as well as a couple of the Port of Tillamook's former locomotives.