Quote:
Originally Posted by DC338
50,000 tons of 100 octane used is the equivalent of 185,750 hurricane sorties in which all fuel was used.
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Not accounting for non-operational flights (I've just checked the link given for old RAF records, one of the ORB's, iirc for 56 Sqn states that 159 non-operational - ie. training, setup - flying hours were accumlated by the Squadron in the first week of August 1940 alone.
This roughly translates to 25-30 tons of avgas, for a single fighter Squadron, for a week, or about 100-120 tons per month if the first week of August was typical. How many Fighter Squadrons were there, 60 or so..? Works out at roughly 6-7000 tons per month for the entire comand. And at this point not a single operational sortie was flown yet..
It does not take into account bombers that consumed many times that of a fighter on a single sortie, or non operational flight. Its a good educated guess that a single bomber Squadron would consume about 5 times as much avgas than a fighter Squadron - and we know some Blenheim Squadrons were involved. How much fuel that would be, say 500 tons of avgas per month per Bomber Squadron? With just two Blenheim Squadrons we are at 1000 tons for non-operational flights. So we are 7-8000 tons with the two Blenheim Squadrons a month.
It does not account for requirements for engine manufacturers to test run engines etc. IIRC in 1944 the British aviation industry required some 2000 tons of 150 grade avgas per month for testing, run-in purposes. Engines have to run-in, and so do newly produced aircraft.. let's
assume they needed the same amount in 1940m too. Engines have to be run in before they are safe for full power - the Germans iirc prescribed 15 hours for DB 605AM running time before full ratings could be used and there wouldn't be too much wear or risk of failure. Lets assume 15 hours for the RAF in 1940, which received about 500 new fighters a month, and probably twice the number of engines, at low-power consumption of 25 gallons/hour. That's 15x1000x25=ca. 1700 tons per month.. pretty close.
Hmm. We have 10 000 tons of 100 octane per month, assuming 60 Fighter Squadrons and 2 Blenheim Squadrons are using 100 octane and flying regular non-operational missions, and that the manufacturers also run-in their engines and planes properly instead of placing a 'Hope you get lucky' sticker on them upon delivery.
But at this point, not a single flight was made against the Luftwaffe using 100 octane fuel.
Trouble is, according to the consumption figures, for example in August 1940 an avarage of 10 000 tons of 100 octane was consumed for all the above purposes AND operational flights. There's simply not enough high octane fuel for all that for all Squadrons, hence why about 2/3s-3/4 of the consumption is 87 octane.
Of course the figures above are just a rough guess, but then again simply dividing fuel/hurri tank capacity is even rougher..