The only bit of advice we got was don't walk underneath
the blue steel missile when it's venting fuel
because it used this
HTP
high test peroxide similar to what the Germans used in the Messerschmitt Komet
that used to melt the pilot and the aircraft.
Well, this was the same fuel, much the same that they used in the blue steel.
And in the summer, the fuel would vent off of the blue steel.
And so you had to keep away from
you never walk directly under the missile just in case it vented.
Because if this fuel got on you, it you would.
It would just combust.
And next to each pan
was a big, big fiberglass tub of warm water called a plunge bath.
And if any HTP got on you, you were supposed
to go and jump in the plunge baths because then that would dissipate the HTP.
So basically, that was the only extra training we got.
That was it.
Basically, don't walk under the missile if it's venting.
What you could also do in the winter was snuggle down
with your back on the plunge baths.
And of course, it'd be nice and warm because the water was always heated.
That a bit heated for, as you say, in the winter.
If if the likelihood of HTP
venting in the winter was was was rare
because it didn't overheat, but they had to keep the plunge baths
warm all the time. Yes, that was.
That was another place you could sit with your back and it would warm your back up.