Originally Posted by
Hoopdriver
And when you had an engine fire, these things burned spectacularly.
And dangerously. Attending fire fighting school in the Navy, I learned burning Mg is impossible to extinguish. Jets are/were constructed with magnesium. Burning Mg explodes when doused with water, CO2 is broken down and the fire burns the oxygen for more flame. Our instruction was to coat nearby fuel for fire sources with foam and push it overboard.