WI: Planes are impossible

Here for you all is a little 'serious' ASB thread.

So. We all love airships. Logically however we all know they've got no chance.
SO WI.....Somehow planes just aren't possible.
All laws of physics act in the same way otherwise but no one can figure out how to make a plane. A very good glider is the closest that can be got even with modern technology.
Rockets are altered too; anything large enough to be manned only works in the higher reaches of the atmosphere.

So. With airships being the only way how does the world develop?
 
I think this should be moved to ASB's
In order to prevent the laws of Aerodynamics to function, you need a constant ASB monitoring of any attempts to us the principle of Wing Lift in a Aeroplane.
The Other possible way is to rework the function of ICEs so that they are too big to work in a Aeroplane. However this has the butterfly of making them too big for Automobiles.
This would also only delay Planes till the 1930's when ECEs become small and powerful enuff to power planes [both the US & Germany build steam powered planes in the 1930's]

However your first real change will come in 1895 when Motor Age Magizine reports the Failure of [Michigan man] to achieve Powered Flight.
You then have the 1896 Swiss Tragedy [plane hit a log in lake Geneva during taxi-ing for take off]
Followed by the Argentine failure and the Wright Brother Accident.

In 1906 you would have the French debacle, followed by the Italian failures.

By 1910 people would come to the conclusion that to make a plane strong enuff to carry a powerful Engine, means the Plane is too heavy to fly,
The Interest & Money turns to Airship Development. Steam, Electric and Diesel are all in the running for the power sources.

By the time the GW ends all major countries are persueing Aerial Navy's to go with their wet Navys.
BP & Shell begin spending millions to develop Helium extraction from Natural Gas in Indonesia.

Britain and the US begin experimenting with Fiber ?glass? [Armored] Shells for the envelope.
Germany begins developing Durawood Construction for its Airships.
While France and Italy begin experiments with low pressure Balloons inside the Shell as a way to prevent being shot down [ OTL Modern method]

Meanwhile development of Gliders have continued, and by the late 1930's Large two man Observation gliders Have been built to be dropped out of a Dirigible at high Attitude, there they soar even higher, and travel/loiter for reconnaissance purpose.
 
Perhaps: ASBs declare Earth a no-fly zone. Any aircraft moving faster than 45 mph or so are shot down from orbit (using particle-beam weapons that resemble lightning). Incorrect scientific beliefs about rapidly-moving objects, the stratosphere, and static electricity ensue; meanwhile, airships reign supreme.
 

yellowdingo

Banned
How far do you want to go back? Wright brothers were not the only aircraft developers. An Australian was working a glider - and i believe one experiment of the period called for gunpowder rockets to propel a wooden glider so :p to your petrol combustion engine planes: Rocket Power Launched Wooden Gliders would have been the big ticket.
 
you could make bernouli's principal not work, this effectively takes out the possibility of winged aircraft while allowing helicopters and zepplins, this also makes hydrofoils not work as well.

I am working on a steampunk timeline in which oil is much less abundant than in OTL. The result is a world in which the internal combustion engine is much less commercially viable making powered flight much less widespread among other things. Would steam powered aircraft still be as viable without petrolium? Also are they capable of performing the heavy lift capabilities of piston engine or jet engine aircraft?
 
High guys. First post, just registered a couple days after seeing this thread and lurking for a few minutes. I had to say something!


On the subject of Airships:


They would totally reign supreme in the air...seeing as they are the only thing up there. Infrastructure historically designated for airplanes would be shifted to airship development. Even incidents like the Hindenburg disaster would just be a bump in the road compared to the historical “end” of airship use. Soon, helium airships would crowd the skies. They would take on passengers in open fields outside of cities near train stations, but soon demand would increase and it would become attractive for builders to construct massive skyscrapers in the centers of cities that could then be used as docking ports for airships. This would increase revenue for the owners of the skyscraper and encourage even larger structures that can take on my airships at one time. The major increases in passenger use between 1919 and 1939 that would have been for airplanes would instead be for airships. Militarily I think we would see a lot of innovation. Nothing can really reach an airship at high altitude save for flak shells. Airplanes usually shot down bombers during WW2, but in this history the airships are going to have to be countered by other airships. The airship arms race would lead to massive hangers being built, camouflaged to look like small mountains or hills. Airships would soon use light artillery pieces all over, then they would get up to bigger 5” guns. Large 10” naval guns would require truly massive airships to support that load. Due to the superior ranges of airships, air to air battles would take place all over the globe if two major nations fought it out.


Moving away from airships:


There is now no more use for aircraft carriers. Even though airships may effect the superiority of sea based vessels slightly, they won't have near the effect if aircraft had been invented. Instead of vast navies of aircraft carriers replacing battleships towards the 1930's and 40's, there would instead be bigger and better battleships. The biggest battleship ever, the Yamato, weighed in at slightly over 70k tons. Soon we would start to see even larger battleships that weigh in at over 100k tons. Some nations would build ever larger battleships capable of fielding ever larger guns. Not needing smaller anti-air guns would make more room for larger batteries of intermediate guns. Between 1895 and 1950 American battleship tonnage increased amazingly fast. By 1960 there would easily be 150k ton battleships cruising around. Missiles would probably lead to the end of massive battleships, but then again they said the same thing about tanks which turned out not to be true. If no form of “complex flight” including missiles is allowed, then battleships would dominate.
 
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