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How One Black Chemist Used a “Crazy” Soy Trick to Kill Gas Fires—and Save the U.S. Navy in WWII

It is nineteen forty-four. You are standing on the deck of an American aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Suddenly, a returning fighter plane misses the arresting cable. It slams into the deck and crashes into a row of parked aircraft. Fuel tanks rupture instantly. High-octane aviation gasoline floods the steel plates. And then, it ignites.

A gasoline fire is a terrifying beast. It reaches two thousand degrees in seconds. Your instinct is to grab a hose. You want to throw water on it. But on a ship, water is not your friend. If you spray water on burning gasoline, the fuel just floats on top of it. The water boils and spreads the fire outward. It turns a burning puddle into a flaming tidal wave that washes over the deck, trapping sailors and destroying planes.

For the early years of the war, a crash like this was often a death sentence for the ship. But then, the Navy began issuing a strange new supply. It came in heavy cans. It was a thick, brown liquid. The sailors took one look at it and gave it a nickname: “Bean Soup.” It looked useless. But when they mixed this “Bean Soup” with water and air, it transformed. It became a thick, tough, creamy blanket. It didn’t run off like water. It stuck to the burning fuel. It smothered the fire, cutting off the oxygen instantly. Infernos that used to burn for hours were suddenly snuffed out in minutes.