First Hydrogen Fueled Aircraft Flight Martin B-57 Canberra NASA: Bee Project

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Courtesy: NASA Glenn Research Center

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/ch6-4.htm

In the fall of 1955, the power plant laboratory of Wright Field, headed by Col. Norman C. Appold, planned an experiment to determine the feasibility of flying an airplane fueled with liquid hydrogen.

The airplane selected for the project was the B-57B twin-engine bomber powered by Curtiss Wright J-65 turbojet engines. The basic plan was to equip the airplane with a hydrogen fuel system, independent of its regular fuel system, and modify one engine to operate on hydrogen as well as its regular fuel, which was JP-4 (kerosene). The airplane was to take off and climb on its regular fuel. After reaching level flight at about 16400 meters, the fuel on one engine was to be switched from JP-4 to hydrogen. When the hydrogen experiment was complete, the fuel flow would be switched back to JP-4 and the airplane would return to base under its normal operating conditions.

The hydrogen fuel tank on the left wing of the airplane was 6.2 meters long with a volume of 1.7 cubic meters. The stainless steel tank was designed for a pressure of 3.4 atmospheres and insulated by a 5-centimeter coat of plastic foam, covered by aluminum foil and encased in a fiberglass covering. On the opposite wing was the helium supply consisting of 24 fiberglass spheres charged to 200 atmospheres. The helium was used for pressurizing the hydrogen tank and for purging. A heat exchanger for vaporizing the liquid hydrogen, a flow regulator, and a manifold for feeding gaseous hydrogen to the engine comprised the rest of the hydrogen system.

On 13 February 1957, the first of three successful flights was made and the fuel system worked well. The transition to hydrogen was made in two steps. The hydrogen lines were first purged, then the engine was operated on JP-4 and gaseous hydrogen simultaneously. After two minutes of operations on the mixture, Algranti switched to hydrogen alone. The transition was relatively smooth and there was no appreciable change in engine speed or tailpipe temperature. The engine ran for about 20 minutes on hydrogen. The pilots found that the engine responded well to throttle changes when using hydrogen. When the supply was almost exhausted, the speed began to drop. As this became apparent, Algranti switched back to JP-4 and the engine accelerated smoothly to its operating speed. The engine burning hydrogen had produced a dense and persistent condensation trail, while the other engine operating on JP-4 left no trail.

Liquid Hydrogen As A Propulsion Fuel, 1945 - 1959 http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/contents.htm

B-57 Canberra From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-57_Canberra

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[WaWoWieWa]

how ironic, we could all drive and fly on hydrogen if it was not for some corrupt motherfucking capitalist..

[KJLesnick]

@MrFixermixer

First and lightest element on the periodic table.

[rawheas]

Driving with hydrogen would be stupid, its much more expensive, since the cheapest way to get it right now is to rip the hydrogen off methane (natural gas). sure hydrogen doesn't make carbon dioxide when it burns, but you make plenty of co2 when you produce the hydrogen any ways. The other methods of hydrogen production such as water electolysis are even more energy costly.

[Mr41432]

@WaWoWieWa I blame the damned oil companies.

[LoveIsNotNotLove]

Nice video. I wonder if they could use compressed liquified H2 instead, as the BMV Series 7, which NASA owns a fleet of ten, in 2006. It also runs on hydrogen, but in the form of hydrosol. I find it odd that the people in Government like Al Gore, who talk so much about carbon footprints ect have not insisted that detroit create the dual-fuel i-c engine type of car, as the BMW Series 7, if they are serious about the enviroment, & not just new credits to collect &trade.

It yields H2O as output!

[H0egaarden]

whu oh, hydrogen needs 5 times greater volume per amount of energy than kerosine...

[cargo4441]

Man who says Nasa is not #1 just look at that new plane that The boys from nasa just came up with it is awsome!

[kunningan]

@WaWoWieWa = sure if you wanna pay for it. these prices are set without the influence of the masses. supply and demand . we dont have the facilities to make enough for the general public. (used as a fuel, that gallon of LH has one fourth the energy of a gallon of gasoline. The ultimate cost would then be $6.00 per gallon.) .. bottom line. humans are to stupid to use cheap , abundant energy responsibly.

[davidds0]

@WaWoWieWa not really , hydrogen is extreamly dangures and problematic, thats why it is berraly used by its own

[EugeneVanDerMill]

@staceyfanny no i know, that the hindenburg carry'd it's Hydrogen, because H ist lighter than Air... and that we are takling of compressed H in Projects like that or in a Fuelcell... But the Hydrogen is highly reactive a small spark can cause a massive Reaction, what People like to call an Explosion... No Doubt... as long everything is fine it's Great, but a small Leak is an extreme Risk...

[staceyfanny]

@EugeneVanDerMill You are missinformed, the hindinburg had huge inflated ballon like containers inside it containing hydrogen at low pressure for it to hover. This article here uses liquid hydrogen in very strong containment vessels not in huge canvas bags like hindinburg. A lot of difference and with todays technology much safer.