Airbus A300-600ST Beluga
The Beluga
“An airplane shaped like the whale it carries its name from.”
Airbus · cargo
The Airbus A300-600ST Beluga exists to carry airplanes inside an airplane — wings and fuselage sections ferried between Airbus factories across Europe. The cockpit sits below the cargo deck so the whole bulbous forehead can swing open. Only five were ever built, and after three decades of service the fleet is finally winding down.
The Beluga hasn't just carried aircraft parts — it has flown space station modules and priceless museum paintings, cargo too big and too precious for anything else.
Unmistakable: a whale with wings. Huge domed cargo bay above a tiny low-set cockpit. The first of the five retired in January 2026, so every sighting now counts double.
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Beluga from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook.
