Low bypass turbofans, turbojets or rocket engines are the only ways we currently use to achieve supersonic flight. Propeller driven engines, whether a Brayton cycle turboprop or a WWII diesel powered aircraft cannot generate enough thrust to effectively maintain powered flight past the speed of sound.

Rocket engines aren't steam powered, we'll just leave it at that.

Low bypass turbofans and turbojets work (very simply) by compressing intake air, burning fuel in it to heat it up, sending that hot gas through a turbine to power the compressor, and then exhausting the rest. In a turbofan, the compressor is also used as a propeller, to drive air around the engine (called bypass). Air must be subsonic when entering the compressor to prevent shock waves from propagating through the engine and 'putting out' the fuel burning in the combustion chamber. If you, say, roll through another aircraft's turbulent jet wash, these shock waves can form, as seen in the documentary Top Gun.

That is the science of a jet engine (again, in super brief). There is no way to involve a steam engine in a jet engine. To make a Brayton cycle work, you need a very hot heat source in your combustion chamber, heat transfer from steam will simply not work. You either need an atomized liquid (or gas, maybe?) fuel burning in the combustion chamber, or something exotic like a super-heated solid surface with very high surface area. So, nuclear powered jets are more feasible than steam powered jets.

So the long answer is No, you cannot power supersonic flight with any variation of a steam-based Rankine cycle. However, as stated before, rockets work just fine. If you want von Braun to make his developments in the 1870s instead o the 1930s, thats up to you.

Low bypass turbofans, turbojets or rocket engines are the only ways we currently use to achieve supersonic flight. Propeller driven engines, whether a Brayton cycle turboprop or a WWII diesel powered aircraft cannot generate enough thrust to effectively maintain powered flight past the speed of sound.

Rocket engines aren't steam powered, we'll just leave it at that.

Low bypass turbofans and turbojets work (very simply) by compressing intake air, burning fuel in it to heat it up, sending that hot gas through a turbine to power the compressor, and then exhausting the rest. In a turbofan, the compressor is also used as a propeller, to drive air around the engine (called bypass). Air must be subsonic when entering the compressor to prevent shock waves from propagating through the engine and 'putting out' the fuel burning in the combustion chamber. If you, say, roll through another aircraft's turbulent jet wash, these shock waves can form, as seen in the documentary Top Gun.

That is the science of a jet engine (again, in super brief). There is no way to involve a steam engine in a jet engine. To make a Brayton cycle work, you need a very hot heat source in your combustion chamber, heat transfer from steam will simply not work. You either need an atomized liquid (or gas, maybe?) fuel burning in the combustion chamber, or something exotic like a super-heated solid surface with very high surface area. So, nuclear powered jets are more feasible than steam powered jets.

So the long answer is No, you cannot power supersonic flight with any variation of a steam-based Rankine cycle. However, as stated before, rockets work just fine. If you want von Braun to make his developments in the 1870s instead o the 1930s, that’s up to you.