"jc" wrote:

"About all I can add to this discussion is that I'd agree
it's probably designed for hypergols since there's no
provision for ignition. Hypergols are binary propellants
that use 2 liquids that spontaneously combust on contact.
The only 2 I can name are furfuryl alcohol with hydrogen
peroxide and the WW2 German bstoff and cstoff. That was the
stuff used in the ME163 Comet rocket plane, I'm pretty sure
one of the stoffs was hydrazine. That's some nasty stuff, it
dissolves flesh. I've heard stories about accidental leaks
and human soup. Yuck!

Manzo Zeigler's "Rocket Fighter" describes C-stoff as
"thirty percent hydrazine hydrate solution in methyl alcohol"
and T-stoff as "forty-eight percent concentrated hydrogen
peroxide and a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds." Some
brilliant and possibly pro-Ally designer placed extra fuel tanks
inside the cockpit.

A few years ago I listened to a lecture by a rocket engineer
who had known one of the Komet's engineers. When asked
about the Komet's lethality the German said "It did not kill
half its pilots! It killed no more than one in three!"

--Bill Thompson