You may have heard of steam-powered ships and cars. Did you know there was also steam-powered airplanes?
A Travel Air 2000 biplane made the world’s first piloted flight under steam power over Oakland, California, on 12 April 1933. However, it was not the first. Samuel Pierpont Langley had the first successful flight on May 6, 1896 when his Number 5 plane, an unpiloted model, flew nearly 3/4 of a mile after a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River.
The strangest feature of steam-powered flight was its relative silence; spectators on the ground could hear the pilot when he called to them from mid-air.
Abner Doble, considered a genius by many in the steam-powered car industry consulted with George and William Besler of Davenport, Iowa, the sons of William George Besler, after they acquired much of Doble Steam Motors plant and patents in the 1933.
They modified a Travel Air 2000 bi-plane by replacing its petrol engine with a steam engine. The plane was successfully test flown on 12 April 1933 at Oakland Municipal Airport, California.
Inspired by historical events and people, Discordance is a story filled with drama, suspense, humor, romance that takes the reader back to colonial days, When tragedy strikes and threatens their family. Will they prevail amid all the dangers?
Check out all books by Donna R. Causey
Discordance: The Cottinghams (Tapestry of Love) (Paperback)
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