AIRPLANES DON'T HAVE SMOKESTACKS, BUT THEY HAVE SMOKE & STEAM!
An engraving of
William S. Henson’s & John Stringfellow’s Aerial Steam Carriage in 1842.
The following year
Jules Henri Giffard invented a steam powered airship.
The only steam powered
aircraft that ever amounted to anything at all was designed by the Besler
Brothers, George & William. It first
flew at California’s Oakland Airport in 1933.
The biggest drawback to steam powered aircraft was the weight. The engine, boilers & condensers added
about 400 lbs to the small biplane. The
aircraft could, however, commit to short landings because of its reversible
engine which could propel the plane backwards in the blink of an eye. At the time it was thought steam would
revolutionize the aircraft world, but it was not to be.
The Besler
Brothers’ steam engine plane getting ready for takeoff in a cloud of its own
steam.
Leaving steam
powered aerials now and moving on to gas powered planes which smoke for deliberate
reasons such as this crop dusting plane.
“Huff Daland
Dusters” crop dusting plane.
Delta Airlines
began March 2nd, 1925 as “Huff Daland Dusters” – the world’s first
aerial crop-dusting company. They became
“Delta Air Service” on June 17, 1929 when they began carrying cargo and
sometimes, passengers, and later, “Delta Airlines” in 1945. One of my cousins worked for Delta Airlines
for years and the family always had excellent flying service available at great
discounts! At present Delta Airlines is
rebuilding from a devastating year in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
Some planes,
however, use smoke for a very different reason – to ‘write’ things in the sky –
usually something romantic.
Romantic done
two-for-one.
Two-for-one upsmanship.
Or just spell it
out . . .
. . . one way or
another.
Or maybe it’s just
a nice greeting for a friend? I do
wonder, however, if this is a digitalized version? Could a plane as large as this
make curves like these in such close proximity?
And what about any passengers? They’d surely be scared half to death unless
they knew what was coming!!!
Using sky writing
for advertising purposes. I wonder what
sort of cuisine one might find at Moe’s?
Hopefully it’s tasty.
I would, however, definitely hope this is either digitally enhanced, or someone was joking around!
:->
La Nightingail
I never knew that about Delta Airline's beginnings! Cool. My son always flies with them and has frequent miles which he sometimes give to me to get to where he now lives. Steam just wasn't meant to be for airplanes!
ReplyDeleteMy cousin oversaw the cleaning of the interior of a plane after a flight and he used to entertain us with tales of the things his workers found left behind. Most were pretty standard. But some were things we wondered how on earth someone could have forgetten such a thing?!! :)
DeleteI used to fly Delta back in the day. And I hope that last air writing was a joke too!
ReplyDeleteYeah, one can only hope that "How do I land" skywriting effort was truly a joke. Otherwise . . . yikes!
DeleteYou come up with fun takes on the prompt photos!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first began participating in Sepia Saturday, I tried to follow the prompts as exactly as I could until one day one of the members at the time (don't remember who?), answering a prompt picture of a woman with an umbrella crossing a wet street, did a whole post on manhole covers. What??? I took another look at the prompt picture & saw there was a manhole cover in the street right where the woman was crossing. From that moment on I began to have fun thinking 'outside the box' once in a while and I'm always happy to hear the rest of you enjoy those posts I have fun creating. Thanks! :)
DeleteThis was a fun medley. I laughed at the steam-powered biplane. We forget that in the early days of aviation there were a lot of forgotten inventors with aircraft designs that were flawed from the start and destined to fail. As for Delta, I never understood why they offered peanut snacks despite the fact that many people suffer from severe peanut allergies.
ReplyDeleteYou've made a good point! I would hope today, when we know so much more about how serious a peanut allergy can be, they don't serve peanuts any longer? I remember one time when my husband and I, through a mistake, got to fly first class. When the flight attendant came around with little packages of almonds, my husband laughed & elbowed me saying "They're getting peanuts back there." tipping his head back toward the coach section. That was in 1976 so he was probably right.
DeleteI had never heard before of steam powered aircraft adn loved those early vintage rephotographs. As ever you were so inventive turning to the writings in the sky in response to the prompt.
ReplyDelete