06-06-2011, 01:29 PM
BR60103 Wrote:I still take my science fiction in books.
If you ever see it, read Steam Bird by Hilbert Schenck. I read it when it came out originally. The premise is that the USAF in its desperate, expansive, try anything once years, built a steam powered bomber. It's kept at an airbase that's staffed by steam (railroad and anything) fans and during one crisis is authorized to launch.
Lots of RR references, including a series of speed records passed as they accelerate for take-off.
That's not actually science fiction... the B-70 Valkryie bomber prototype was originally designed around a nuclear power plant, which means that the propulsive effort would come from...steam?
And F.E. Warren AFB, outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was home to the MX Rail System, MX ICBM warheads which were trundled around the railroad network of America to keep the Soviets from locking onto launch sites. I have seen some of the launch cars on the tracks in the back in the 80's, recognizable only by their suspension bogies designed to support the missile weight.
Steam is actually a useful technology.