Dispatcheur C3 - Steam Powered
Built by: Vearne C. Babcock – c. 1916
Advance Aircraft Corporation
An Albatross style biplane, the Dispatcheur C3 was fitted with a 20 horse-power Stanley Steamer engine. While steam aviation pre-dates gasoline power plants by almost sixty years, (one of the first recorded attempts being the Aerial Steam Carriage in 1842), the principle problem was developing a steam engine with an adequate power to weight ratio. [3][4]
In a 1926 study on the subject, the U.S. Navy concluded that a power of 1 horse-power to three pounds of dry engine weight (the weight of the engine without liquids), was the minimum required for the successful operation of a steam powered heavier-than-air ship. [4]
In the case of the Dispatcheur C3, the Stanley Steamer engine weighed about 200 lbs. While the engine could obtain a power output of 125 horse-power, giving a ratio of 1 HP to about 1.6 lbs engine weight, it could only maintain this output for a short time before the boiler was exhausted, requiring a pause in operation to rebuild the pressure. While this would have been an inconvenience for a land vehicle, such a problem spelled disaster in the air. The rated 20 HP could be maintained until the engine ran out of fuel or water, but this produced a power to weight ratio of 1 HP to approximately 10 lbs engine weight, adequate for a vehicle of the day, but nowhere near powerful enough for an aircraft.[5][6]
Added to this, the Stanley Steamer engine was not a closed system, meaning it did not fully recycle the spent steam vapor, thus requiring a larger volume of water which added more weight. A fully enclosed system, which captured the steam and condensed it back into water, would not be introduced until 1919 by the Doble automobile factory. [6][7]
By February of 1917, it became apparent that the Dispatcheur C3 would not fly as intended and both airplane and engine were put up for sale. Elgin C. Hartshorn, the owner of the company and former owner of a Stanley Steamer dealership at 1803 W. Pico Street, Los Angeles, moved back to Colorado with his wife Christine. Babcock would find work at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida as a flight instructor later that year. [2][3][8][9][10][11]
While steam aviation would languish during the years of the first world war and the 1920s, following the Great Depression in 1929, the need for cheap reliable engines would usher a brief surge in interest of the aviation steam engine, one of which would be installed in a small monoplane built by Babcock himself (See LC-11 NC889E – Coming 5-4-16)
REFERENCES:
1. “Advance Aircraft Corp” – San Francisco Chronicle, San
Francisco, CA – 14-Oct-1916, Pg 18, Col. 1
2. “My Dad: Vearne C. Babcock” – American Airman, Vol. 4,
No. 2 – Feb 1961, Pg 15 & 16
3. For Sale advertisement – Los Angeles Herald, Los
Angeles, CA – 3-Feb-1917, Pg 20
4. “Steam Power Plants in Aircraft” – by E. E. Wilson,
Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department – Technical Notes – No. 239 – June, 1926
5. Floyd Clymer’s Album of Historical Steam Traction
Engines – 1949 – Pg 103
7. “The Doble-Detroit Steam Car” – Automobile Engineer,
Vol 9, No. 124 – March 1919 – Pg 14
8. “List of Incorporations” – Southwest Contractor and
Manufacturer – 9-Sept-1916, Pg 18
9. “Stock Permits
Revoked” – San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA – 29-Mar-1917, Pg 16
10. Los Angeles City Directory for 1916 – Stanley Steamer
Dealership – Pg 1856
11. 1930 Census – Records for Elgin C. and Christine Hartshorn
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