1/72 Steam powered SBC-4

Gallery Article by Alvis 3.1 on Jan 4 2010

Silly Week 2010

 

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.

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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

Photos and text © by Alvis 3.1