Much has been
written about the Curtiss-Wright SBC-4 helldiver, but little is known about the
only steam powered aircraft used by any belligerent during WWII. This is that
story.
Inventor Rory
McTavish was obsessed with steam power. His great-grandfather had helped James
Watt with some of the earliest steam engines, and he had steam in his blood
(A medical condition usually fatal!) He had become obsessed with the idea of a
steam powered aircraft sometime in the mid 1930s, and pestered the RAF for years
to help him prove the technology. Once WWII started up in earnest, his interest
became unquenchable, and he refused to let the RAF have a moment's peace. He was
completely convinced he had the secret to cheap, powerful aircraft engines that
were robust and could run off cheap and easy to get at coal...now if only the
RAF would lend him a plane to prove it!
Oddly, the RAF
seemed preoccupied with fighting the Luftwaffe at the time, and didn't have the
time or energy to be bothered with McTavish, but fortunately for both, several
Curtiss-Wright SBC-4s originally destined for France came into the possession of
the RAF. Totally unsuited for combat, a quick thinking RAF supply clerk realised
they could get rid of two problems in one go. Soon, a SBC-4 and Mister McTavish
were off to the Orkney Islands for some Steam Powered Flight Research.
A minimal amount of
money was sent to keep things moving, but not enough to actually lead to the
completion of the project, but they hadn't counted on Rory's obsessive nature.
He was also lucky in that an abandoned Arado 196 washed up near his research
station, and thus he obtained a set of floats for his plane. Working feverishly
around the clock, by November of 1940, he had converted the SBC-4 to steam
power! Removing the R-1820 engine, he slightly extended the nose section with an
annular boiler, fired by a pulverised coal burner located just in front of the
pilot's seat. A geared drive turbine was attached to the standard propeller, and
it was estimated that it would produce the equivalent of 1200 horsepower, or
approximately 30% more than the R-1820. Success was achieved..but it was soon to
be dashed.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The maiden flight of
the Steam SBC-4 was to take place on December 19, 1940, but terrible weather
kept things from happening until January 1, 1941. Nursing a terrific scotch
hangover, Rory McTavish slipped the mooring ropes at 2:15 PM, and proceeded to
begin his takeoff run. Whether he would have been able to achieve flight, or
sustain it is not known, as he appeared to let the boiler pressure build up to
an unacceptably high level, and with a tremendous detonation, the Steam Driven
SBC-4, or as it is known in official RAF documents "Cleveland, Steamer,
Mark One", was destroyed. Thus ended the experimentation in the UK
with steam driven aircraft for the rest of WWII.
Kits used to make
this oddity were the Heller SBC-4 and the Heller Arado 196, both in 1/72 scale.
Both are actually very nice kits and didn't deserve to get bashed into this
atrocity, but hey, somebody had to buy them.
The cowling was
replaced with a nosecap made from sheet styrene, and the funnel is a piece of
aerodynamically shaped aluminum tubing. The ship's bell is exactly that..a small
scale wooden ship model accessory bell. Paint is airbrushed Tamiya acrylics, and
weathering was not done, as the model reflects the prototype before it's first
attempted flight. Ok, it's not real...but you get the idea.
Alvis 3.1
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