The Besler Steam Plane

A Travel Air 2000 biplane made the world's first piloted flight under steam power over Oakland, California, on 12 April 1933.
The strangest feature of the flight was its relative silence; spectators on the ground could hear the pilot when he called to them from mid-air.
The aircraft, piloted by William Besler, had been fitted with a two-cylinder, 150 hp reciprocating engine.
An important contribution to its design was made by Nathan C. Price, a former Doble Steam Motors engineer.
Price was working on high pressure compact engines for rail and road transport; the purpose of the flight was to obtain publicity
for this work. Following its unexpectedly favourable reception Price went to Boeing and worked on various aviation projects, but Boeing
dropped the idea of a steam aeroengine in 1936. Price later worked for Lockheed where his experience with developing
compact burners for steam boilers helped to design Lockheed's first jet engine.
The advantages of the "Besler System" that were claimed at the time included the elimination of audible noise and destructive vibration;
greater efficiency at low engine speeds and also at high altitudes where lower air temperatures assisted condensation; reduced likelihood
of engine failure; reduced maintenance costs; reduced fuel costs, since fuel oil was used in place of petrol; reduced fire hazard
since the fuel was less volatile and operating temperatures were lower; and a lack of need for radio shielding.
For capacities in excess of 1000 horse power a turbine captures the energy released by the expansion of steam more efficiently
than a piston. Thus, the steam reciprocating engine turned out to be unsuitable for scaling up to the needs of large aircraft.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Besler
• Steam
• Plane
• Travel
• Air
• 2000
• aircraft
• airplane
• aviation
• history

[fonephat]

@OlDoinyo Look up 71000 on youtube ,they claim it's 87% eff.

[redreaper2020]

@ObiTrev LOL!! I knew they had wooden biplanes for night fighting, but...WOW...the mental images that conjures up...

[ObiTrev]

@redreaper2020 The Russians tried to make a stealth aircraft, it was made of translucent sheets. This was before WWII of course. The only problem was that a man holding onto an aircraft engine up in the sky was more noticeable than a regular opaque aeroplane at that time.

[redreaper2020]

no sound? Hm. I'm sorry, a no-sound turbine would be pretty stealthy.

I still think COGAS could work for airliners. Turbine with 3x the efficiency. :D

[OlDoinyo]

@gabrialswings

Reciprocating steam engines are typically only 7-10% efficient. That's why they aren't around any more. I doubt the plane pictured had any real cruising range.

[KJLesnick]

Nathan C. Price went too far with the Lockheed L-1000/XJ37 turbojet. The complexity was out of this world.

[freeman8128]

Chuff, Chuff - I love it - & the background music, quacky singing etc.

- Dear Santa....

[TheHeusinator]

@starkfm it isn't the temperature that takes a lot of energy to maintain or achieve, it is the phase change that takes most of the energy.

[oldfart387]

Steam is amazing. Go to Jay Lenos Garage,  he has a steam powered car that can run faster than most others. Downside would be waiting on enough steam to go.

[SMGJohn]

@fizzguts yes maybe but they doesn't have the same development as the Combustion engines had. Between 1900 to 2000 the Steam engine only good a small development they where made more high tech for factory use only, a few car producers have also developed prototype engines