The steam airplane

(From my video blog on the Janesville Gazette web page)
What really blows me away is that natives of Wisconsin and neighboring Iowa were responsible for the first steam-powered, self-propelled vehicle in the United States and the first practical steam airplane!
In 1873, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the car was designed and operated by John W. Carhart of Racine.
And down river from Rock County at the turn of the century, a Davenport, Iowa couple had little George and William, the Besler brothers who grew up to power an airplane with steam.
They developed the airplane in California and demonstrated it for Popular Science magazine and a large gathering of newspaper reporters and newsreelers. Popular Science noted the plane made little noise and you could hear pilot William Besler shout a greeting from the sky.