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.
Continue reading Coal fired B-52 bombers.
