Inventors in the nineteenth century actively tried to create steam-powered airplanes by strapping incredibly heavy, coal-burning train engines onto fragile wooden wings with…

Inventors in the nineteenth century actively tried to create steam-powered airplanes by strapping incredibly heavy, coal-burning train engines onto fragile wooden wings with absolutely disastrous results; the Aerial Steam Carriage was designed in 1842 to transport passengers across the globe, but the creators completely ignored the fundamental concept that strapping a literal cast-iron boiler full of boiling water to a flying machine makes it far too heavy to ever leave the ground, and it is honestly delightful that Victorian engineers were so deeply obsessed with steam power that they just tried to force a locomotive into the sky through sheer stubbornness and wishful thinking; we should all be incredibly grateful that modern aviation runs on refined jet fuel instead of requiring a flight attendant to violently shovel hot coals into a furnace mid-flight just to keep the plane aloft!