[quote=Studio25;1021129]No chance
But I was sure I'd seen that the way petrol gets ignited in films (cigarettes and bullets) is a load of b*ll*cks - and a quick google brought this up as the first hit:
Petrol lit with a cigarette? Only in the movies | Film | The Guardian
Apparently, firing tracer bullets (which have burning phosphor on them) through fuel tanks won't ignite the petrol either.
During my time in the Fire Brigade we had many instances of people thinking things won't burn or explode, especially messing with empty oil & petrol containers, most of them lived to tell the tale.
As for tracer ammo they do not contain phosphurus, during WW2 there were 3 different types of tracer, 2 of them were for aircraft use only, the tips were coloured blue for daytime use & grey for nightime. The army tracer had red bullet tips. Some R.A.F. ammo belts had an incendiary round 1 in 10, they did contain phospherous, but designed in such a way that the phosporous in the bullet could only be activated on firing.
If a fuel tank has already been punctured by a ball or armour piercing round and along comes a couple of tracer, what do you think is going to happen, why did Bomber command loose so many aircraft going down in flames, what else could it be.