No...the Monitor and the Merrimack, with their steam boilers, haven't been adapted to fly.
The Airforce is testing a synthetic fuel blend that could be made domestically from coal or natural gas as they seek to wean its dependence on foreign crude and defray soaring fuel costs which came to $4.7 billion last year.
Actually, the concept isn't new. Fischer-Tropsch fuel, named after the two German scientists who developed the catalytic process in 1923, converts natural gas or coal into liquid fuel.
The cold-weather tests of the fuel, which wrapped up earlier this month, showed it compared well to conventional petroleum-based military aviation fuel, JP-8, Air Force officials said. (washingtonpost.com)
The Air Force uses half the U.S. Government’s fuel supply every year. Half. In other words, it takes all the tanks in Iraq, all the ships in Norfolk, and all the federal fleet cars driven by bureaucrats on per diem to match the USAF consumption.airspacemag.com)
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