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1954 Bitburg Explosion (jet Fuel Storage Tank)
The devastating Bitburg tank explosion took place on 23 September 1954 at the then NATO air base near the city Bitburg, in the municipality of Niederstedem, Germany. The explosion took place in an underground storage tank containing JP-4, a military jet fuel blend. The toll was 34 dead, 2 injured, 3 missing. The explosion was caused by the deliberate activation of a novel carbon dioxide fire extinguishment system during an acceptance test as part of final commissioning. The JP-4 blend has since largely been abandoned due to safety concerns because of its low flash point. The accident In 1954 at the US Air Force fuel depot near Bitburg, various acceptance tests were being made on a newly constructed underground fuel storage tank. The tank was fitted with a novel carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system, the first of its kind in Germany. The US Army was not responsible for design, construction and operation of storage facilities at the time, but the fuel involved was the property o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implemented the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is '' animus in consulendo liber'' (Latin for "a mind unfettered in deliberation"). NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem Air Base is nearby. History The city's name derives from its Celtic toponym, ''Beda''. Bitburg originated approximately 2,000 years ago as a stopover for traffic from Lyon through Metz and Trier to Cologne. The first name mentioned was ''Vicus Beda''. Emperor Constantine the Great expanded the settlement to a road castle around 330, the central part of which forms the town centre today. Bitburg is first documented only after the end of the Roman Empire around 715 as ''castrum bedense''. It subsequently became part of Franconia. The first mention of Bitburg in historic annals occurred in connection with the signing in 1239 of the Trier-Luxembourg Treaty between Archbishop Theoderich II of Trier and Countess Ermesinde II of Luxemburg, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JP-4
JP-4, or JP4 (for "Jet Propellant") was a jet fuel, specified in 1951 by the U.S. government (MIL-DTL-5624). Its NATO code is F-40. It is also known as avtag. Usage JP-4 was a 50-50 kerosene-gasoline blend. It had a lower flash point than JP-1, but was preferred because of its greater availability. It was the primary U.S. Air Force jet fuel between 1951 and 1995. MC-77 is the Swedish military equivalent of JP-4. Mixture JP-4 was a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. It was a flammable transparent liquid with clear or straw color, and a kerosene-like smell. It evaporated easily and floated on water. Although it had a low flash point (), a lit match dropped into JP-4 would not ignite the mixture. JP-4 froze at , and its maximum burning temperature was . JP-4 was a non-conductive liquid, prone to build up static electricity when being moved through pipes and tanks. As it is volatile and has a low flash point, the static discharge could cause a fire. Beginning in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jet Fuel
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial aviation are Jet A and Jet A-1, which are produced to a standardized international specification. The only other jet fuel commonly used in civilian turbine-engine powered aviation is Jet B, which is used for its enhanced cold-weather performance. Jet fuel is a mixture of a variety of hydrocarbons. Because the exact composition of jet fuel varies widely based on petroleum source, it is impossible to define jet fuel as a ratio of specific hydrocarbons. Jet fuel is therefore defined as a performance specification rather than a chemical compound. Furthermore, the range of molecular mass between hydrocarbons (or different carbon numbers) is defined by the requirements for the product, such as the freezing point or smoke point. Kerosene-type je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flash Point
The flash point of a material is the "lowest liquid temperature at which, under certain standardized conditions, a liquid gives off vapours in a quantity such as to be capable of forming an ignitable vapour/air mixture". (EN 60079-10-1) The flash point is sometimes confused with the autoignition temperature, the temperature that causes spontaneous ignition. The fire point is the lowest temperature at which the vapors keep burning after the ignition source is removed. It is higher than the flash point, because at the flash point vapor may not be produced fast enough to sustain combustion. Neither flash point nor fire point depends directly on the ignition source temperature, but ignition source temperature is far higher than either the flash or fire point. Fuels The flash point is a descriptive characteristic that is used to distinguish between flammable fuels, such as petrol (also known as gasoline), and combustible fuels, such as diesel. It is also used to characterize t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Mission Des Grands Travaux Aéronautiques En Allemagne
The Mission for Major Aeronautical Works in Germany La mission des grands travaux aéronautiques en Allemagne (MGTA) was a French government agency tasked with the construction of air bases in the territories controlled by France in occupied Germany after WWII. It was created on June 2, 1951. In 1965, its territorial jurisdiction was extended to the French sector in West Berlin. In 1966, the MGTA left German territory when the French president Charles de Gaulle decided to Withdrawal from NATO, downgrade France's membership in NATO. The MGTA was legally dissolved in 1991. References [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transparent to visible light but absorbs infrared radiation, acting as a greenhouse gas. It is a trace gas in Earth's atmosphere at 421 parts per million (ppm), or about 0.04% by volume (as of May 2022), having risen from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm. Burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of these increased CO2 concentrations and also the primary cause of climate change.IPCC (2022Summary for policy makersiClimate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA Carbon dioxide is soluble in water and is found in groundwater, lakes, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NFPA 12
NFPA may refer to: * National Fire Protection Association ** NFPA 704, National Fire Protection Association Fire Diamond * National Food Processors Association * National Fluid Power Association * Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency The Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) refers to a collection of orders requiring the electricity distribution network operators in England and Wales to purchase electricity from the nuclear power and renewable energy sectors. Similar mechanisms ope ... *Non-functioning pituitary adenoma {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inerting (gas)
In fire and explosion prevention engineering, inerting refers to the introduction of an inert (non-combustible) gas into a closed system (e.g. a container or a process vessel) to make a flammable atmosphere oxygen deficient and non-ignitable.NFPA 69. Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems. National Fire Protection Association.NFPA 77. Recommended Practice on Static Electricity. National Fire Protection Association. Inerting relies on the principle that a combustible (or flammable) gas is able to undergo combustion (explode) only if mixed with air in the right proportions. The flammability limits of the gas define those proportions, i.e. the ignitable range. In combustion engineering terms, the admission of inert gas can be said to dilute the oxygen below the limiting oxygen concentration. Inerting differs from purging. Purging, by definition, ensures that an ignitable mixture ''never forms''. Inerting makes an ignitable mixture safe by introduction of an inert gas. Certain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 Disasters In Germany
Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
