Steampunk Aviation
by Paul Gentile
Science fiction author K.W. Jeter coined the term “steampunk” in the 1980s to describe the works of Tim Powers, but the genre goes back much further. When we hear that word, we often equate it with fictional technologies found in the stories of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, or with the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West and its 1999 movie adaptation.
More recently, the movies Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and the independent film The World of Jasper Morello have brought steampunk into the mainstream. In those stories, steam- and clockwork-powered machines perform feats far beyond the realm of their story’s time frame. These tales usually feature a mad genius who builds a mechanical marvel to destroy a foe or explore some unknown world.
Throughout the years, numerous science fiction works — from books to TV to movies — have included steampunk themes. But the idea has grown into a pop-culture phenomenon of art, fashion, and culture.
So what does this concept have to do with aviation? Much more than I ever thought.
Steam power still fascinates
One of the most common inventions you will find in any steampunk tale is a flying machine. Authors in the genre love to make the impossible fly. Common centerpieces of such stories include ships attached to balloons, with steam-powered propellers that take their captains to the ends of the earth.
As I researched the genre, I continued to find more flying machines. Was this only science fiction, or was there some reality behind steam-powered aviation?
It made me wonder why these authors — and so many of us — have such a fascination with mixing steam power and flight. I cannot say I have the definitive answer, but I have some theories that led me back to the beginnings of aviation itself.
Often — especially here in the U.S. — we begin thinking of aviation with the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their 1903 Wright Flyer. However, aviation had a colorful and sordid history long before the Wright brothers — particularly in the 100 years before they introduced controlled, powered, man-carrying flight.
I could not possibly cover all aviation pioneers in this article, or even those who focused only on steam power. However, a few characters with incredible histories might have inspired our steampunk tales of today.
- Henri Dupuy de Lôme
- Sir George Cayley
- William Samuel Henson
- Félix du Temple de la Croix
- Alexander F. Mozhaiski
- Alberto Santos-Dumont
- Samuel Langley
Only a few aviation pioneers sought out steam as the power of choice for their aircraft. Some chose it because they lived in eras before the gasoline engine, others selected it out of economic necessity, and others were simply stubborn.
As you look through photos and sketches of these inventors’ aeronautical inventions, you can begin to see where the inspiration for fictional steampunk aircraft could have evolved.
We might think of the Golden Age of Aviation as exciting, but if we go back a hundred years earlier — to the 1750s–1890s — we would see an age of wonder and almost limitless imagination. No one knew the rules yet, so no one followed them.
For those early pioneers, that may have been the problem. They had more imagination than science in the creation of their flying machines. Often underpowered and not structurally sound, those early aircraft had little chance for success — but they sure looked good trying. A few pioneers made immense strides that became building blocks for their successors. At the time, their inventions were more than flying machines; they were magical contraptions promising to take people to the ends of the earth.
Aviation history is sometimes a hotly debated topic even today. Ask someone in Brazil who invented the modern airplane, and he or she might point to Alberto Santos-Dumont. If you consulted the Smithsonian Institution before 1942, Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome might have been the answer.
In fact, the Smithsonian’s slight so upset Orville Wright that in 1928 he packed up the 1903 Wright Flyer and sent it to the London Museum. It wasn’t until 1942 that the Smithsonian clarified the history of the Langley Aerodrome and credited the Wright brothers with inventing the airplane. There was more drama in the early stages of aviation than in a soap opera.
So who was Alberto Santos-Dumont? He cannot be ignored when it comes to powered aircraft.
Dumont is officially known in Brazil as the “Father of Aviation.” He is credited internationally as the first person to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft to take off with a non-detachable landing gear: the 14-bis. The 14-bis was powered by petrol, and on October 23, 1906, Dumont won the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize (founded by Frenchman Ernest Archdeacon) with its flight. He went on to attain the world record in November that same year by flying the 14-bis 220 meters in 22 seconds. Dumont’s designs and ingenuity are credited with advancements in aviation and are considered important building blocks for today’s airplane.
Before Dumont’s fascination with heavier-than-air aircraft, he was a prolific builder of steam-powered dirigibles. He built 11 in all and described himself as the first “sportsman of the air.” Dumont lived in Paris, which he made his personal aeronautical playground. He often rode through the city in his dirigibles, landing for lunch at a café or flying home to his apartment at 9 Rue Washington.
You can see how he could inspire an author looking for a character and machine outside the realm of the ordinary. Dumont is the one person who really did build balloons with “ships” attached to them and use steam-powered propellers; he was a true-life steampunk character.
There’s another twist to the Dumont story. In an art-imitating-life-imitating-art sort of fashion, Dumont’s fascination with steam-powered dirigibles can be traced back to his origins in Brazil. He was born in the town of Palmira, now called Santos Dumont, where he learned to drive steam tractors and locomotives on his family’s farm. That being before television and the Internet, Dumont was an avid reader; by the time he was 10 he had read all of Jules Verne’s books.
In his autobiography he wrote about these influences and how the dream of flying came to him on that plantation.
So could we say that steampunk was the grandfather of aviation?
With the advent of the gasoline engine and the 1903 Wright Flyer, steam power almost died completely — almost. If we fast-forward to 1934 in Oakland, California, we meet brothers William and George Besler, who kept the dream of steam alive.
The Besler brothers introduced the first practical steam-powered airplane: a converted Travel Air 2000 biplane. They touted steam as the future of aviation, and they had cause to be excited; their steam engine solved many problems that gasoline engines of the day had. Their power plant was extremely quiet, it could not be stalled in flight, it was easy to start, easy to maintain, and was safer than gasoline-powered engines of the time. They could even reverse the engine direction midflight.
The Beslers demonstrated their airplane widely, but it never got far beyond the novelty phase. Boeing worked with the brothers for a few years and then ended development in 1936.
It was not really a bad ending, though. William and George achieved what they wanted: to create the most efficient and powerful steam engine of its type, and then tell the world about it in the most fascinating way — on an airplane. As in any good steampunk story, this one has a twist, too. When Boeing dropped the project, William Besler went to Lockheed and took his experience with compact steam boilers with him. He used that experience to help develop Lockheed’s first jet engine.
Steam-powered aircraft have not been limited to full scale; steam-powered model aviation is a reality. Its current caretaker is Geoff Wolfe, who publishes his work on flysteam.co.uk.
Like all who have been bitten by the steam bug, Geoff is enamored with the craftsmanship and workmanship that go into putting together such a machine. He refers admiringly to his visit to the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, where he saw Clément Ader’s flying machine with its nickel engine and components made from forged steel and copper.
If you ever consider building a steam-powered model, flysteam.co.uk is the place to start. Geoff posts history, designs, experiences, and everything one could hope for in undertaking such an endeavor.
In my email correspondence with him, he pointed out something not on the website: the sheer stress involved with building and flying a steam-powered aircraft, even if it is a model. Geoff’s first attempts were with David Parker’s Comet design and included every issue possible, even fire. Geoff has since moved on to his own designs, which he discusses on the site.
According to Geoff, David Parker published his designs in a three-part series in the UK magazine Model Engineer, but outside of Geoff no one has successfully duplicated the design. With Parker passed on, Geoff carries on the torch of steam-powered model aviation.
Steampunk’s influence on aviation and aviation’s influence on steampunk may become indistinguishable at times, but two things are clear: steampunk is cool, and aviation is cool. Putting the two together is priceless.
I think we owe a lot to the authors who dreamed long before we were able to realize many of those ideas in aviation. They inspired countless pioneers and inventors. Sometimes in history we can point to them like the Wright brothers or Santos-Dumont. Other times the influence is more subtle.
Looking to the future, the influence of steampunk and Jules Verne is not lost in our technological advancements. One need look no further than SpaceShipOne, which seems steampunk-inspired. Maybe all of this harkens back to a more primal desire to fly. Either way, aviation has surely been “punked,” and I am glad.
In fiction, steampunk creates limitless technological boundaries that can draw you into a story. The best way to learn more about steampunk is to dive into some of its best-known works. Follow the links and discover authors and stories you may have long forgotten.
As for aviation, we have TV channels dedicated to just the past 75 or so years of flight; imagine how much happened in the centuries before. The Internet offers a limitless exploration of the real and fictional history of aviation and steampunk. Enjoy the links.
Paul Gentile [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
