From: schillin@spock.usc.edu   
      
   willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) writes:   
      
   >schillin@spock.usc.edu (John Schilling) wrote in message news:<   
   d9kj6$t4u$1@spock.usc.edu>...   
   >> WFNA (White Fuming Nitric Acid) and the hydrocarbon or alcohol of your   
   >> choice fits the bill, assuming you stick to the short list of materials   
   >> immune to WFNA.   
      
   >A side question if you don't mind...  Henry also mentioned WFNA as a   
   >possible oxidizer.  Why is it superior to RFNA?  I seem to recall RFNA   
   >actually being used on some early rockets, but I don't think WFNA has   
   >been.  What makes one better than the other?  Historical comments   
   >would be welcome, too.   
      
      
   It isn't; I had a brain fart and got the two reversed.   
      
   Red Fuming Nitric Acid offers better performance, *and* better long-term   
   storability, than White.  WFNA is somewhat safer to handle in the short   
   term, rather less in the way of corrosive and toxic fumes, but LOX is   
   safer still and has better performance than either, if you don't care   
   about long-term storability.   
      
   Nitric acid got a lot of early use, but as experience built up other   
   oxidizers turned out to be better for most applications and the one   
   niche left for nitric acid was tactical missile propulsion, usually   
   in combination with a suitable hydrocarbon.  This called for the   
   long-term storability of RFNA.   
      
   The most famous application of RFNA is probably the old Soviet   
   R-11/SS-1/"Scud" series of short-range ballistic missiles, which   
   used RFNA/kerosene in the 1950s and RFNA/hydrazine in the '60s.   
   The last application I know of along those lines was the Swedish   
   Rb.05 tactical air-to-surface missile, introduced in the early   
   1970s.  Since then, improved solid motors have pretty much taken   
   over the tactical missile niche.   
      
      
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