re: #69 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel

Hypergolic propellants like nitric acid and aniline were one of the areas where American rocketeers were well ahead of the vaunted Germans before the end of World War II. Von Braun and the Paperclip gang got the lead role mainly because they had worked at a larger scale and seemed more likely to produce a vehicle that would meet the required task of lofting an atomic bomb over a useful distance.

Yup. I have a PDF copy of an excellent book by liquid fuel researcher John D. Clark called Ignition! It details the history of liquid rocket fuel development from behind the scenes; it’s light-hearted, it’s enlightening, and it really shows that although the Americans were behind in the Space Race, they had several significant technological advantages in the fuel and engine design space.