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> The MiG-25 was a maintenance hog (not least because pilots and ground crews partook of its alcohol de-icing supply, leading to the nickname "The Flying Restau

by jp57 5y ago

> The MiG-25 was a maintenance hog (not least because pilots and ground crews partook of its alcohol de-icing supply, leading to the nickname "The Flying Restaurant"). Leave it to the Russians to de-ice with vodka.

dharmab 5y ago
Was actually methanol, very dangerous: https://warontherocks.com/2015/09/boozing-through-the-soviet-afghan-war-was-more-horrifying-than-you-can-imagine/ https://warontherocks.com/2015/09/boozing-through-the-soviet...
- hungryforcodes 5y ago
  So unlikely true, as they would have just gone to the cantine and used real vodka.
  - dharmab 5y ago
    Likely true for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who would not have had access to alcohol otherwise.
- robocat 5y ago
  > Boot polish, for example, would be spread on a hunk of bread, which was then toasted. The alcohol in the polish would soak into the bread; the polish itself would crisp on the surface of the toast. You’d scrape off as much as you could, then eat the bread. The same could be done with some ethanol-based toothpastes. Alternatively, take that polished bread, sit it on top of a glass of water over night, and then drink it, as a certain amount of alcohol will have infused it. How much alcohol would just evaporate in these scenarios? To me the above sounds unlikely, unless there is something I am missing?
  - trhway 5y ago
    all those are very edge cases. Normally anybody anywhere would easily make "braga" - a precursor to moonshine - you just need anything with sugar-like carbohydrate (bread, sugar, sweet fruits, berries or even cabbage, etc.) and a bit of yeast and in like 3 days you have it, a wine-like level of alcohol which is already consumable though taste isn't for everybody. If you have a couple hours more and several pots of varying size and access to a boiling heat (gas/electric stove, camp fire, etc.) you can make moonshine out of that "braga". In that Netflix Mars-flight show the most hard to believe to me moment was when supposedly experienced Russian cosmonaut failed to repair water filter and they were going to die because of this - a Russian cosmonaut would have known about "braga"/"moonshine" distillation and would have been able to build a distilling device out of anything like it had been happening across all the USSR back then.
  - dharmab 5y ago
    You're missing the boredom and desperation of a deployed soldier

by jp57 5y ago

dharmab 5y ago

Was actually methanol, very dangerous: https://warontherocks.com/2015/09/boozing-through-the-soviet-afghan-war-was-more-horrifying-than-you-can-imagine/ https://warontherocks.com/2015/09/boozing-through-the-soviet...

hungryforcodes 5y ago
So unlikely true, as they would have just gone to the cantine and used real vodka.
- dharmab 5y ago
  Likely true for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan who would not have had access to alcohol otherwise.
robocat 5y ago
> Boot polish, for example, would be spread on a hunk of bread, which was then toasted. The alcohol in the polish would soak into the bread; the polish itself would crisp on the surface of the toast. You’d scrape off as much as you could, then eat the bread. The same could be done with some ethanol-based toothpastes. Alternatively, take that polished bread, sit it on top of a glass of water over night, and then drink it, as a certain amount of alcohol will have infused it. How much alcohol would just evaporate in these scenarios? To me the above sounds unlikely, unless there is something I am missing?
- trhway 5y ago
  all those are very edge cases. Normally anybody anywhere would easily make "braga" - a precursor to moonshine - you just need anything with sugar-like carbohydrate (bread, sugar, sweet fruits, berries or even cabbage, etc.) and a bit of yeast and in like 3 days you have it, a wine-like level of alcohol which is already consumable though taste isn't for everybody. If you have a couple hours more and several pots of varying size and access to a boiling heat (gas/electric stove, camp fire, etc.) you can make moonshine out of that "braga". In that Netflix Mars-flight show the most hard to believe to me moment was when supposedly experienced Russian cosmonaut failed to repair water filter and they were going to die because of this - a Russian cosmonaut would have known about "braga"/"moonshine" distillation and would have been able to build a distilling device out of anything like it had been happening across all the USSR back then.
- dharmab 5y ago
  You're missing the boredom and desperation of a deployed soldier