Hi stephen, You write: >And while we're on the subject, I thought I heard someplace that the >Messerschmidts actually ran on coal. Gassified coal, it's true, but >coal none the less.
I'm kind of picturing some german guy with a big beard and a shovel stoking the fires behind the pilot (grin). Seriously, the Nazi had developed coal processing to a liquid fuel to a high degree; I was just reading something about this on the biofuel list. They had plenty of coal, just like us, and no oil to speak of. We could do the same thing, but the net effect is worse than burning oil so it's not a particularly appealing option. South Africa also supplied much of it's own energy needs with a nuclear power plant, and this technology, during the Apartheid era when the world community shunned SA. K.
