Yes,
lomapaseo: No need to get into engineering minutea about "spontaneous combustion." It is self evident, for example, that if one puts a piece of paper on something that gets very hot (but doesn't glow or burn), like maybe on a hot brake...and you'll see that the paper will burn without a flame or spark. Another example would be like a diesel engine ...which has compression and combustion without the benefit of ignition (spark plugs)...you know a little about pressure and heat, don't you?
If you read a little about the Thai Airways B734 center tank explosion you'll learn that the center tank pump was running dry, for whatever reason, whether it was a faulty thermal cut-off switch, or whether it was a faulty flow control switch...the end result was that the pump got so hot and either caused a spontaneous fuel-air-vapor combustion, or caused insulation on electrical connectors or wiring to become frayed from excessive heat which may have generated a spark...
The facts are that Boeing has a history of center fuel tank explosions...and Douglas doesn't. Thirty five year old DC8s today are still plowing the skies ...with 35-year-old fuel tank wires and no fuel tank explosions. Additionally, Douglas uses "feed box" design which keep main tank pumps, positioned inside the feed boxes, always fully submerged and primed.
Positioning center fuel tank pumps inside adjacent main tanks is a variation of fail safe fuel system design philosophy.
