Exothermic Decomposition of Nitromethane: An Account of some Pre‐War Italian Experiments on a Prospective Fuel for Stratospheric Engines

DETAILS have recently been published of work undertaken at the Aeronautical Engineering School in Rome in connexion with stratospheric aero‐engines, started just before the war, and more particularly on the exothermic decomposition of nitromethane as a possible fuel in such engines. (La Chim. e l'Ind. 1949, XXXI (12) pp. 436–439.) The author is R. M. Corelli of the Institute of Aeronautical Material Technology, University of Rome, who was mainly responsible for the chemical side of the research. He worked in close collaboration with Professor Gen. G. A. Crocco and Professor Ing. Luigi Crocco. The first results on a large scale were unsuccessful.