Stratocriuser?

Question

When passing Croydon Airport (now closed) I remember seeing an aircraft known as a Stratocruiser I think they wre a development of a WW2 bober called a Straofortress. Are any flying today and who with ?

Answer 1

The Boeing 377 was interesting for several reasons. It was Boeing's first civilian airliner attempt for more than a decade and helped pull it out of the postwar slump while it developed the 707. In fact if there was a limit to the success of the 377 it was the introduction of the 707 in 1954 which transformed the airline industry even knocking out the beautiful Lockheed Super Constellation.

It also had many variants including the KC 97 tanker which was the backbone of the tanker fleet until replaced by the KC135 on the Boeing 707 Airframe.

The most interesting modifications were the Guppy series of supper size cargo carriers. The Super Guppy was enormous and used to carry some of the early missiles and space craft.

Although created on the B29, the 377 had a Bomber version called the B-50 also designated 'Super-fortress'.

This is a good read with links to many informative sites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_377

Answer 2

The Stratocruiser / Stratotanker was a development of the B-29 Superfortress and it's post-war version B-50.
http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/m377.html

During the early 1960s, Aero Space Lines ballooned the Stratocruiser's fuselage into a whale-like shape to carry spacecraft sections. Nine of the variants were assembled. The first was called the "Pregnant Guppy," followed by five larger "Superguppies" and three smaller "Miniguppies." In the process, one of the most elegant airplanes in the sky became one of the ugliest.

The Pregnant Guppy was broken for scrap
ONE Superguppy is still flying
One MiniGuppy is a museum piece, the others are scrap

The Guppies are being replaced with a modified B-747:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747_Large_Cargo_Freighter

Answer 3

Croydon Airport?

Answer 4

Suzy C is wrong. The B-52 is something else, Suzy.

The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was an immediate postwar development, and a couple of the other answers are pretty detailed.

For lots more information, including pictures and statistics, do an internet search on "boeing stratocruiser."

Answer 5

Only 56 of the 377 were ever built, they had major design flaws and I think they went out of service in about 1959. I doubt you will find any flying commercially these days although if you check out BA they may have one or two for cargo flights.

Answer 6

There are 10 still registered in the US:
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/acftinqSQL.asp?striptxt=377&mfrtxt=Boeing&modeltxt=377&cmndfind.x=9&cmndfind.y=13

Eight of those have questionable airworthiness certificates and only two apparently are flying.

Answer 7

It is the B52 Stratofortress and it had it's maiden flight was 15th April 1955 and there were 744 planes produced from then till 1962. Although there were still some flying up to 2005, and it was the longest serving plane in the US Air Force.
There probably are still some in private collections, just like with other WW2 era planes.
I want to fly in a spitfire, that's my dream.

Answer 8

the stratocruiser was based on the B29 superfortress.