...in as much as the German airforce was a pioneer in using alternative fuels to power its planes.
Now that the U.S. has at least two things in common with W.W. II-era Germany--namely a shortage of allies and a potential dearth of conventional fuel, it's apparently in our interest to follow their lead.
"Hitler flew Messerschmitts on it," says William Anderson, assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, about such Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel, which can be made from methane, coal, plant oils—even wood waste. "We believe that having a secure domestic source of fuel makes it easier for us to do that mission [to fly and fight]. It is less likely that there would be some disruption to the fuel source that we need to fly airplanes."
Wild Green Yonder: Flying the Environmentally Friendly Skies on Alternative Fuels
at Scientific American
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