Bristol Tramp

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Bristol Type 37 Tramp and Type 44 Tramp Boat
Type Passenger aircraft
Manufacturer Bristol Aeroplane Company
Designed by Frank Barnwell
Number built 2
Variants Pullman

The Bristol Tramp was a fascinating development; a steam-powered passenger and airmail transport aircraft. It was built but never flew.

Contents

[edit] Development

The Tramp was a development of Bristol's earlier Pullman passenger aircraft. In 1919 Frank Barnwell entered discussions with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company about the feasibility of using flying boats as auxiliaries to ocean liners. As they had very limited experience with internal combustion engines, but long-term and deep knowledge of steam turbine powerplants, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company suggested the use of a steam turbine to power the aircraft. As Bristol's heavy bomber the Braemar, the progenitor of the Pullman, had originally been designed to have a central engine room with drive shafts to wing-mounted propellors, the Pullman seemed a suitable candidate for the installation of a steam turbine engine room.

The powerplant was to consist of two 1500 hp steam turbines of the Ljungstrøm type, with closed-circuit high-pressure boilers. The unprecedented 3000 hp would be delivered though drive shafts and clutches to a four-bladed tractor propellors mounted on the each middle wing (the Braemar/Pullman/Tramp family were triplanes). In the end, the only problem encountered with the steam turbine itself was that it delivered far too much power for the Tramp airframe, which had been designed to handle the 1600 hp of four 400 hp Liberty L-12 engines. The main problem turned out to be in designing a reliable lightweight closed-circuilt boiler and condenser.

Two examples of the Tramp were completed in 1921, powered by four 230 hp Siddeley Puma piston engines, but the power transmission system, particularly the clutches, gave continual trouble, and neither ever flew.

The Tramp Boat was a proposed flying boat development of the Tramp.

[edit] Specifications

General characteristics

  • Crew: 3
  • Length: 60 ft (18.29 m)
  • Wingspan: 96 ft (29.26 m)
  • Height: 20 ft (6.10 m)
  • Wing area: 2284 ft² (212.2 m²)
  • Empty weight: 12 000 lb (5440 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 18 795 lb (8527 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2× Lungstrøm steam turbine, 1500 hp (1140 kW) each

Performance

[edit] References

    • Barnes C.H. (1964). Bristol Aircraft Since 1910. Putnam & Company Ltd. ISBN 0-370-00015-3. 

    [edit] Related content

    Related development

     

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