Well the references to the practical use 100-octane fuel date back 1935 in Flight magazine, so whatever occurred in 1938, it was not the invention of the stuff. It may have been an easier production process but that is not the same as the wider claim being made that the RAF wouldn't have had the stuff if Houdry hadn't developed a process
I hear say they even won the Falklands. Well their fuel supply at Ascenskon. God bless em, is there any conflict where we dont owe a debt of gratitude and humble bending of knee to our erstwhile ally?
Hurricane Mk I Combat Report (see link for a scan of the report about the combat on the 18th May 1940) and a number of combat reports mentioning the use of the boost - some dependent upon 100 octane fuel Hurricane Mk I Performance And the above site has various memos about permitting the distribution and use of the fuel dated December 1939. What the Germans found in the BoB, in comparison to the BoF, was a change in tactics, radar interception, and a vast increased number of Spitfires (which only made an appearance at Dunkirk as there were no Spitfire squadrons in France)
Yes, I enjoyed the line about the Luftwaffe pilots not believing they were facing the same aircraft as they had encountered over France months earlier. True, as they wouldn't have met Spitfires at that time. Was all refined fuel acquired from the US at the time? Next they'll be claiming Britain was responsible for Pearl Harbor...hee hee.
Well, the Japanese couldn't have managed it without Britain! Their aircraft carriers and Naval Air Force were largely developed with British help, though they outstripped us pretty fast (the Army Air Force mainly used French expertise). The IJN still had some older battleships and battlecruisers in WW2 that had been built in Britain before WW1 (IJNS Kongo was built by Vickers in 1912). So, just who did we think the Japanese were going to be fighting when we gave them this help? There was only one other modern Navy in the Pacific! The "special relationship" between the UK and the USA does not go back all that far: American Naval policy for the Atlantic assumed that in a war, Britain would be the enemy, until well into the 1930s.
Well, why spoil the habits of a lifetime...I remember well having tea break in education hanger in RAF Cosford in 1980, and looking at all the strange uniforms at the vending machines taking a break too...Including the Argentine Airforce bods....Its just something we do...apparanlty.
