Rocket Aviation Timeline?

So, I've been thinking about a timeline, well before 1900 split off, but this post is specifically asking a thing that makes more sense among the post-1900 discussions and should be applicable to many timelines either side of the line.

Conventional heavier-than-air aircraft is never discovered, as the earlier discovery of modern rockety trumps it, first flights being in rocket planes so later pioneers followed into rocketry or whatever and leads to ww1-ww2 era being dominated by rocket powered aircraft filling all roles.
And rocket aircraft being the only known means of heavier than air true flight (not gliding) until Jet Engines (that for sake of simplicity say happens at the same time as OTL).

so heres the question, under this premise.
What would aviation be like?
Would Rocket-Planes be able to fill all the standard roles that conventional aircraft did during that time period?
Historically, rocket-planes seem to be limited to small craft, experiments and interceptors as we already had conventional aircraft for heavier uses. But presumably heavy rocket aircraft would work wouldn't it? mutli-stage Rocket passenger planes blasting and gliding across the atlantic and etc?

Could rocket-aviation work
or is it too impractical/expensive even without the alternative of conventional aircraft?
 
I really dont see this happening unless you get rid of internal combustion engines, somehow.
in which case there's a lot more than just aviation being affected
 
Well....... under desperats time Prof Lippisch created the idea of the P12.

A wooden (Mainly) delta innitially boosted to speed by rocket. Then 'Cruising' under coal induced ram jet.

So...... who has referances to the earliest delta platform experiments? :)
 
You still have the primary problem of rockets: very high thurst for a very short period, unless you get something the size of the Saturn V. I don't think you can fly, for example, Paris-London (one of the earliest comercial flights) on rocket power alone.
 
You need motors to move around larger rockets, so it's rather unlikely that no one ever gets the idea to stick a motor on an airframe.

You can get earlier rockets though if you have the theoretical works happen earlier as well as funding, say an excentric German Graf around the 1870s, early rockets were made out of mundane materials, like the V2 engine being made out of high quality steel (iirc), new ones were made as the requirements rose.
 
Hadn't noticed this thread. The short answer is a rocket is a poor powerplant for anything moving slower than sonic velocity, but an excellent one at much higher velocities. Basically, working in Imperial units (leaving the derivation to interested readers), a rocket generating one pound of thrust and moving 375 miles per hour, is developing one horsepower equivalent; at 750 MPH, two HP, at 7500 mph, 20 HP. At orbital insertion velocity (which varies with altitude) that same one pound of thrust is worth about 48 HP, all at the same fuel consumption rate. Assume that the liquid fueled rocket burns oxygen and jet fuel... about 12 pounds of the two fluids would be consumed per hour to develop the one pound of thrust regardless of speed.

Will complete tomorrow AM, if any interest is shown---(edit)

Dynasoar
 
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