 Diesel displaced coal and fuel oil for steam-powered vehicles in the latter half of the 20th century, and is now used almost exclusively for the combustion engines of self-powered rail vehicles (locomotives and railcars).The first diesel-powered flight of a fixed-wing aircraft took place on the evening of 18 September 1928, at the Packard Proving Grounds near Utica, Michigan.With Captain Lionel M. Woolson and Walter Lees at the controls the first "official" test flight was taken the next morning, flying a Stinson SM-1B (X7654), powered by a Packard DR-980 9-cylinder diesel radial engine, designed by Woolson.