Germany was the world capital of chemistry for a couple of centuries, beginning well before modern unification. During the OPEC embargo, the crash programs (crash is a good way to describe most of them) to develop alternative fuels led right back to the millions of pages (many on microfilm storage) of the German wartime synth fuel programs.
Methanol and LOX was the combo used in the V2, because other common fuels were restricted. Just recently I read that the 3000 V2s launched during the war killed 12,000, meaning that each missile on average killed four people. Shows how well civilian populations took cover, I suspect.
In the postwar US, the V2 was altered to use RP1 (refined kerosene) and was used in 1946 to take the first photos from space. More kick in kerosene than in methanol, apparently.
Not sure what fuel the V1 used. The design is so simple it could probably be built in one’s garage. I think the number built did not far exceed the number of V2s, which is weird. A storm of 10,000 of those over the course of a few days, and armed with incendiaries instead of an explosive, would likely have burned down parts of whole cities.
Supposedly more slave labor died manufacturing the “vengeance weapons” than were killed after launch.
I thank you for the detailed reply.
I think that the question is one of availability, more than restriction. Germany stole a lot of grain from the Ukraine, during the war, and the V2 and distillation into alcohol, was a way to make use of it. I think of the V2 as a terror weapon, more designed and used to demoralize the British, than to inflict casualties.
Mr. Busek may also provide the answer to the use of V1s and V2s. Gasoline was in short supply, and its costliness probably offset the cheap V1 design.
Kerosene and LOX is still used in rockets, today. It definitely has more kick than Alcohol and LOX, but it has to be available.