The Avión Torpedo was a liquid-propelled

rocket-powered aircraft A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typicall ...

project designed by

Pedro Paulet Pedro Eleodoro Paulet Mostajo (2 July 1874 or 4 July 1875 – 30 January 1945) was a Peruvian diplomat and engineer. Some early rocket experts described him as a pioneer in aeronautics, saying that he was the first person to build a liquid-propel ...

in 1902. Paulet would spend decades attempting to achieve funding for the project throughout Europe and Latin America, but found no donors.

Design and development

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

developed a

liquid-propellant rocket A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid rocket propellant, liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or Solid-propellant rocket , solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because th ...

engine in 1895. In 1902, he designed the Avión Torpedo, a liquid-propellant rocket-powered aircraft that featured a

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fixed to a

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

tiltwing A tiltwing aircraft features a wing that is horizontal for conventional forward flight and rotates up for vertical takeoff and landing. It is similar to the tiltrotor design where only the propeller and engine rotate. Tiltwing aircraft are typic ...

. Paulet's concept of using liquid-propellant was decades ahead of rocket engineers at the time who utilized

black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

as a propellant.

In popular culture

* The Avión Torpedo was featured in a

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to commemorate the birthday of Pedro Paulet in 2011

References

Bibliography

* {{refend Rocket-powered aircraft