Sheffield resident snaps rare picture of huge Airbus Beluga flying over city

Frank Fletcher spotted the super transporter flying over Sheffield on Tuesday, July 2 – and it's safe to say it’s hard to miss.

The huge cargo freight aircraft, named after the whale it resembles, offers a unique way to transport oversized air cargo.

Also known as an A300-600ST Super Transporter, the company’s five existing Belugas play a key role in keeping its production and assembly network operating at full capacity.

The plane has been modified to carry aircraft parts and oversized cargo and was first introduced in September 1995.

It comes as the one of the most hotly anticipated planes, the Airbus Beluga XL, enters service later this year.

While passengers won’t be able to travel in it, it will be a super-transporter cargo plane, designed by Airbus to fly its aircraft components between European production sites.

The plane, nicknamed the ‘whale in the sky’, completed a key round of testing at Hawarden Airport in Wales earlier this year.

It will have an extra 30 per cent capacity on the planes it is set to replace.

The new craft will be able to carry two A350 XWB wings instead of one and there will be extra space in the ‘bubble section’.

Airbus have also painted a whale’s mouth and eyes on the side of the nose in a nod to its whale-like shape.

A Beluga was forced to circle over North Wales and Chester in June.

The number two plane, which was flying from Toulouse to the Airbus factory in Broughton, was spotted flying in circles for at least half an hour.

Airbus confirmed there were no technical problems but that a crane nearby posed a safety risk.