Fuel that made Spitfire/Hurricane supreme

Cap'n Jack

Cap'n Jack

Final Approach
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
8,999
Location
Nebraska
Display Name
Display name:
Cap'n Jack
I found this in the Royal Society of Chemistry web site:
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2009/SpitfireFuel.asp

A few excerpts:
In the year that sees the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, a previously untold story has emerged of how, through a "miracle" chemical breakthrough, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters gained the edge over German fighters to win the Battle of Britain.
Click to expand...

The Royal Society of Chemistry read the claims about Eugene Houdry, and his process at the Sun Oil Company, in a paper written originally for the journal Invention and Technology by American science writer Tim Palucka.
The introduction to the paper by Palucka says of Houdry: "His miraculous catalyst turned nearly worthless sludge into precious high-octane gasoline and helped the Allies to win World War II."
He continued: "That process would make a crucial difference in mid-1940 when the Royal Air Force started filling its Spitfires and Hurricanes with the 100-octane gasoline imported from the United States instead of the 87-octane gasoline it had formerly used."
Click to expand...

The 100-octane fuel that resulted from the Houdry Process increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph at sea level by 34 mph at 10,000 feet.
This extra speed gave the British fighters in the summer of 1940 the edge over the Luftwaffe above the English Channel and in the skies of London and south-east England.
With the balance tipped towards the British, the German invasion was abandoned and Hitler turned eastwards, allowing the UK armed forces time to regroup and to revive.
"Luftwaffe pilots couldn't believe they were facing the same planes they had fought successfully over France a few months before. The planes were the same but the fuel wasn't," said Palucka.
Click to expand...

The process called "cracking" was mentioned in the article. The process I know about breaks large hydrocarbons to shorter ones, so fits the description above.

I recognize the Royal Society of Chemistry doesn't have too many fools...but running a Spitfire on 87 octane- anyone have thoughts on how well that worked? Maybe they made the engine strong and lived with detonation?

They end with:
The RSC is inviting experts and the public to challenge the new claim and if it remains intact then the society will send the report to aviation and military historians to mark the newly-discovered contribution of chemists to victory in one of the key battles.
Click to expand...

Contact info at the link above if you can challenge or support the claim...
 
Cap'n Jack said:
The process called "cracking" was mentioned in the article. The process I know about breaks large hydrocarbons to shorter ones, so fits the description above.

I recognize the Royal Society of Chemistry doesn't have too many fools...but running a Spitfire on 87 octane- anyone have thoughts on how well that worked? Maybe they made the engine strong and lived with detonation?
Click to expand...

You can run any engine on various levels of octane by adjusting the timing and boost levels to stay out of detonation, you also loose power for those adjustments. I'm sure the engine ran just fine on 87oct, it just put out less HP. Actually, 100 octane has more longer chain molecules (8 carbons) than 87 Octane which has a good bit of Heptane (7 carbon IIRC my organic chemistry correctly)
 
Last edited:
Cap'n Jack said:
I found this in the Royal Society of Chemistry web site:
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2009/SpitfireFuel.asp

A few excerpts:
Click to expand...

In the year that sees the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, a previously untold story has emerged of how, through a "miracle" chemical breakthrough, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters gained the edge over German fighters to win the Battle of Britain.
Click to expand...

This true story was told long ago.
 
Henning said:
You can run any engine on various levels of octane by adjusting the timing and boost levels to stay out of detonation, you also loose power for those adjustments. I'm sure the engine ran just fine on 87oct, it just put out less HP. Actually, 100 octane has more longer chain molecules (8 carbons) than 87 Octane which has a good bit of Heptane (7 carbon IIRC my organic chemistry correctly)
Click to expand...
Your base explanation is sort of correct. The branching of the chain plays a role too. 100 octane used to be defined as fuel being 100% isooctane, which is another name for 2,2,4-trimethylpentane -a branched 5 carbon chain. Another way you can increase octane is to add "aromatic" hydrocarbons- these contain benzene rings which are a bit slower to burn. The cracking would have a higher proportion of long and branched carbon chains compare to simple distillation. Adding other compounds like tetraethyl lead also increase octane rating as we know.
 
I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but an article in the August 2008 issue of the Air Force Magazine stated:

Yet another RAF force multiplier was high-octane fuel. When the war began, both the Luftwaffe and the RAF were using 87 octane aviation fuel. Beginning in May 1940, the RAF obtained 100 octane fuel from the United States and used it throughout the battle. It boosted the performance of the Merlin engines in the Hurricanes and Spitfires from 1,000 to about 1,300 horsepower.

http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2008/August%202008/0808battle.aspx


I also came across this 1941 Time article on the development of 100 octane gasoline:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772768-1,00.html

One hundred octane gas may well win the war in the air, for Hitler cannot produce in quantity anything better than 90 octane. Reason: the vital ingredient of the higher octane gas is alkylate, which is made from natural gas or from by-products of petroleum cracking, on both of which Germany is as short as the U.S. is long.





Cap'n Jack said:
I recognize the Royal Society of Chemistry doesn't have too many fools...but running a Spitfire on 87 octane- anyone have thoughts on how well that worked? Maybe they made the engine strong and lived with detonation?

...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Thank you Pranster Steve- your post along with Henning's, post did answer my question.

It's interesting that the RSC is looking for information when the data is apparently available. I wonder why they seem to doubt the story....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top