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To: Bobalu

Me 163s used that stuff too...one poor pilot was literally dissolved in his seat when a fuel line ruptured.


27 posted on 08/01/2017 6:27:06 AM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: All
I remember watching the UK Phantoms from our lab windows practicing for the 1969 Farnborough Air Show. I think they were just being delivered to the UK at that time since every practice day one of two more Phantoms appeared...:^)

I also remember seeing the Blue Angel Phantoms from a distance performing at Willow Run in MI. I don't think they were too good as display aircraft since their loops were so large they almost went into the summer cloudbase at the top of the loop. I think their shows with the later A4 Skyhawks - and then F-18s - were better to watch since they could keep it closer to the audience.

Later on the ANG were using Phantoms based at George AFB in CA when I was flying sailplanes in the Mojave desert - they were really easy to spot from a distance with their really prominent smoke trails.

They were around for a long time, and a lot now reside nearby in the D-M "boneyard".

29 posted on 08/01/2017 10:50:53 AM PDT by az_gila
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To: M1903A1

“Hydrazine?! ... Old V2 stuff....” [Bobalu, post 23]

“Me 163s used that stuff too...one poor pilot was literally dissolved...” [M1903A1, post 28]

There are many types of rocket fuels.

Germany’s V2 used alcohol as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer.

The Luftwaffe’s Me-163B used a mix of methanol, hydrazine hydrate, and water as fuel, and an 80/20 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water as oxidizer. They were hypergolic (ignite on contact with each other) and very corrosive. The leak-prone fuel lines of the 163 often led to fires and severe pilot injury.

Titan II ICBM used Aerozine-50, a mix of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine as fuel, with nitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer. Both were storable (compared to liquid oxygen) and hypergolic, but very corrosive. Later rocket motors, including those on Apollo’s Lunar Module and Service Module, used hydrazine compounds as fuel.


33 posted on 08/01/2017 10:03:20 PM PDT by schurmann
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