During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

fielded many

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

and

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

s whose fuels, and oxidizers, were designated (letter)-''Stoff'' (). The following list of stoffs refers to the World War II aerospace meanings if not noted otherwise.

Meaning of ''stoff''

The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

word ''Stoff'' (plural ''Stoffe''), like the English word ''stuff'', derives from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

''estoffe'', however the meanings are somewhat different. Stoff has a fairly broad range of meanings, including "chemical substance" or "matter", "fuel" and "cloth", depending on the context. The German names of the common elements hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are ''Wasserstoff'', ''Sauerstoff'' and ''Stickstoff'' ("hydrogen" being a scientific Greek neologism for "constituent of water", "oxygen" for "constituent of acids", "nitrogen" for "constituent of nitre", i.e. saltpeter - although the German root ''stick-'' is derived from ''ersticken'', "to smother, suffocate", referring to its property of not supporting combustion and respiration). ''Stoff'' was used in chemical

code name A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...

s in both world wars. Some code names were reused between the wars and had different meanings at different times; for example, ''T-Stoff'' meant a rocket propellant in World War II, but a

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

(

xylyl bromide Xylyl bromide, also known as methylbenzyl bromide or T-stoff ('substance-T'), is any member or a mixture of organic chemical compounds with the molecular formula C6 H4(CH3)(CH2 Br). The mixture was formerly used as a tear gas and has an odor r ...

) in World War I.

List

* A-Stoff (World War I):

chloroacetone Chloroacetone is a chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula . At Standard conditions for temperature and pressure, STP it is a colourless liquid with a pungent odour. On exposure to light, it turns to a dark yellow-amber colour. It wa ...

(tear gas)Ford, Brian J.,''Secret Weapons'', 2011, p.33 * A-Stoff (World War II):

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

(LOX) * B-Stoff (short for ''Brennstoff'', literally, "fuel"): the 75% ethanol / 25% water fuel used in the

V-2 The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...

The word was also used for

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazine ...

, or a mixture of hydrazine in methyl alcohol, (used in the ME-163).T. W. Price and D. D. Evans (1968),
The Status of Monopropellant Hydrazine Technology
', NASA Technical Report 32-7227, p. 1. Retrieved 24 October 2021. * Bn-Stoff (World War I):

bromomethyl ethyl ketone Bromomethyl ethyl ketone is a brominated ketone with lachrymatory effects. It was used as a chemical warfare agent in World War I. Bromomethyl ethyl ketone was developed as an alternative to bromoacetone, because acetone, the precursor to bromoace ...

, homomartonite (tear gas) * Br-Stoff:

Ligroin Ligroin is the petroleum fraction consisting mostly of C7 and C8 hydrocarbons and boiling in the range 90‒140 °C (194–284 °F). The fraction is also called heavy naphtha. Ligroin is used as a laboratory solvent. Products under the name ...

extracted from crude

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

C-Stoff C-Stoff (; "substance C") was a reductant used in bipropellant rocket fuels (as a fuel itself) developed by Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft in Germany during World War II. It was developed for use with T-Stoff (a high-test peroxide) as an oxi ...

: 57% methanol / 30% hydrazine / 13% water / small amount of Catalyst 431 potassium-

cuprous cyanide Copper(I) cyanide is an inorganic compound with the formula CuCN. This off-white solid occurs in two polymorphs; impure samples can be green due to the presence of Cu(II) impurities. The compound is useful as a catalyst, in electroplating copper ...

coordination complex * F-Stoff:

titanium tetrachloride Titanium tetrachloride is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is an important intermediate in the production of titanium metal and the pigment titanium dioxide. is a volatile liquid. Upon contact with humid air, it forms thick clouds o ...

* K-Stoff: methyl chloroformate * M-Stoff:

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...

* N-Stoff:

chlorine trifluoride Chlorine trifluoride is an interhalogen compound with the formula ClF3. This colorless, poisonous, corrosive, and extremely reactive gas condenses to a pale-greenish yellow liquid, the form in which it is most often sold (pressurized at room temp ...

* P-Stoff: Compressed

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, and o ...

used for preparing a V-2 missile for launch from its ''

Meillerwagen The ''Meillerwagen'' ( en, Meiller vehicle) was a German World War II trailer used to transport a V-2 rocket from the 'transloading point' of the Technical Troop Area to the launching point, to erect the missile on the ''Brennstand'' ( en, firing ...

'' transporter/erector trailer *

R-Stoff Tonka (also TONKA-250 and R-Stoff) is the name given to a German-designed rocket propellant first used in the Wasserfall missile, and recently used by North Korea. It was used in the Soviet Union under the name TG-02, for example in the engine desi ...

or ''Tonka'': 57%

xylidine Xylidine can refer to any of the six isomers of xylene amine, or any mixture of them. The chemical formula of xylidines is C8H11N or, more descriptively, (CH3)2C6H3NH2. The CAS number for the isomer mixture is . They are colorless solids or liqui ...

/ 43%

triethylamine Triethylamine is the chemical compound with the formula N(CH2CH3)3, commonly abbreviated Et3N. It is also abbreviated TEA, yet this abbreviation must be used carefully to avoid confusion with triethanolamine or tetraethylammonium, for which TEA ...

* S-Stoff: 90%

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

/ 10%

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

or 96% nitric acid / 4%

ferric chloride Iron(III) chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula . Also called ferric chloride, it is a common compound of iron in the +3 oxidation state. The anhydrous compound is a crystalline solid with a melting point of 307.6 °C. The col ...

(The ferric chloride acted as a catalyst.) * SV-Stoff or ' (

sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

): 94% nitric acid / 6% dinitrogen tetroxide or 85% nitric acid / 15% sulfuric acid * T-Stoff (World War I):

tear gas *

T-Stoff T-Stoff (; 'substance T') was a stabilised high test peroxide used in Germany during World War II. T-Stoff was specified to contain 80% (occasionally 85%) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), remainder water, with traces (<0.1%) of stabilisers. Stabilisers ...

(World War II): 80% concentrated

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%� ...

/ small amounts of

8-Hydroxyquinoline 8-Hydroxyquinoline (also known as oxine) is a chelate, chelating agent which has been used for the Quantitative analysis (chemistry), quantitative determination of metal ions. In aqueous solution 8-hydroxyquinoline has a pKa value of ca. 9.9 It r ...

/ 20% water used as

hypergolic A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...

oxidizer with C-Stoff for the

HWK 109-509 The Walter HWK 109-509 was a German liquid-fuel bipropellant rocket engine that powered the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Bachem Ba 349 aircraft. It was produced by Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft (HWK) commencing in 1943, with licensed ...

A through C engines, or as

monopropellant Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with biprop ...

or power source with Z-Stoff for the

HWK 109-500 The Walter HWK 109-500 was a liquid-fuelled rocket engine developed by Walter in Germany during the Second World War. Description The 109-500 is a self-contained, modular monopropellant ''Starthilfe'' (take-off assist) engine in a pod, abl ...

''Starthilfe''

RATO Rato is a village in the Cornillon commune in the Croix-des-Bouquets Arrondissement, Ouest department of Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located o ...

and HWK 109-507 ASM rocket booster pods * U-Stoff:

dinitrogen tetroxide Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and occasionally (usually among ex-USSR/Russia rocket engineers) as amyl, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium ...

* X-Stoff:

tetranitromethane Tetranitromethane or TNM is an organic oxidizer with chemical formula . Its chemical structure consists of four nitro groups attached to one carbon atom. In 1857 it was first synthesised by the reaction of sodium cyanoacetamide with nitric acid. ...

* XU-Stoff: 70% (by weight) X-Stoff (tetranitromethane) / 30% (by weight) U-Stoff (dinitrogen tetroxide) *

Z-Stoff Z-Stoff (, "substance Z") was a name for calcium permanganate or sodium permanganate mixed in water. It was normally used as a catalyst for T-Stoff ( high-test peroxide) in military rocket programs by Nazi Germany during World War II. Z-Stoff was ...

calcium permanganate Calcium permanganate is an oxidizing agent and chemical compound with the chemical formula Ca(MnO4)2. This salt consists of the metal calcium and two permanganate ions. Preparation The salt is prepared from the reaction of potassium permanganat ...

sodium permanganate Sodium permanganate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na MnO4. It is closely related to the more commonly encountered potassium permanganate, but it is generally less desirable, because it is more expensive to produce. It is mainly avai ...

/ water

References

{{Reflist , refs= {{Cite book , title=Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants , last=Clark , first=John D. , chapter=9: What Ivan Was Doing , publisher=Rutgers University Press , year=1972 , isbn=0813507251 , url=https://orgprepdaily.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/9.pdf , page=116

External links

www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org
nbsp;— Fuels used by German rocket engines

in German) Stoffs Rocket propellants German words and phrases