The taxiing and takeoff of a large Airbus Beluga XL transport plane in Getafe, Spain

The European company Airbus is one of the world's leading manufacturers of commercial aircraft, and has several factories in Spain.

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One of these factories is in Getafe (Madrid), located next to an Air Force base, whose runway is used jointly by military aircraft stationed there and by aircraft operated and manufactured by Airbus. Due to its function, Getafe is a regular operating point for the large Airbus Beluga XL transport aircraft.

The history of the Beluga dates back to 1972, when Airbus purchased four Aero Spacelines Super Guppy transport aircraft to transport the fuselages and wings of its aircraft between its various factories in Europe. In 1992, Airbus began developing its own replacement for the Super Guppy, the Beluga, based on the fuselage of the Airbus A300-600 but with the addition of a large cargo compartment on top.

The first Airbus Beluga made its maiden flight on 13 September 1994. Airbus built five of these aircraft. Two decades after its entry into service, Airbus began developing a larger transport aircraft, the Beluga XL, based on the fuselage of the Airbus A330-200F. The European company currently operates six Beluga XLs. The first of these, the Beluga XL1 (F-GXLG), made its maiden flight on 19 July 2018. This Thursday, the YouTube channel Fly By Wire Aviation (to which I recommend you subscribe if you like the world of aviation) has published a video showing this large transport aircraft taxiing on the runway at Getafe Air Base:

The Airbus Beluga XL has a fuselage measuring 63.1 metres long, a wingspan of 60.3 metres and a height of 18.9 metres. Its cargo compartment has a diameter of 8.8 metres. It can transport up to 50,5 tonnes of cargo over a distance of up to 4,000 kilometres. I have seen some test flights of these aircraft over the Vigo Estuary and they are really impressive.

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Main image: Fly By Wire Aviation. Rest of the photos: Airbus / S. Ramadier.