Question: How much fuel was needed to fly all defensive sorties flown by FC during the battle? (revised - previous posting included Hooton Sep 23-29: 4,825 defensive sorties, which are already included in James' figures)
The Battle of Britain T.C.G. James: 51,364 sorties, day & night July 10 - Sept 30: Hooton’s Eagle in Flames Sep 30 – Oct 6: 1,782 defensive sorties.
Total = 53,146 sorties to October 6
1 imperial gallon of 100 Octane = 7.1 pounds ("Oil" by D.J Peyton-Smith the official British war history on the oil and petroleum industry during WW2 page xvii "Note on Weights and Measures"):
1 ton of 100 octane = 2,240 lbs divided by 7.1 = 315.5 imp gal
Fuel Capacities:
Defiant I = 97 imp gal
Hurricane I = 90 imp gal
Spitfire I & II = 84 imp gal
Total 271 imp gal
divided by 3 = 90.3 imp gal
315.5 divided by 90.3 = 3.5 fuel loads per ton of fuel
53,146 divided by 3.5
Answer: 15,184 tons of fuel
total 100 Octane fuel issued between July 11 and October 31 = 62,000 tons:
fuel consumed = 51,000 tons - 16,563 tons = 35,816 tons available for other purposes.
The only engines cleared to use 100 Octane fuel were Merlin II, II, X(? Flight 1938 article), XII and Bristol Mercury XV.
1) Was 100 octane fuel available to Fighter Command? Yes
2) Was there enough 100 octane fuel available to cover all sorties flown by Fighter Command during the battle? Yes
3) Was enough 100 Octane fuel distributed and used throughout the battle to allow Fighter Command to fly all 53,146 sorties from July to 6 October? Yes, with more than enough left over to allow Blenheim IVs of Bomber Command and Coastal Command to operate, and more than enough to allow for secondary duties.
Can anyone explain what happened to all that fuel if only half of FCs frontline fighters were allowed to use it?
Last edited by NZtyphoon; 03-26-2012 at 06:02 AM.
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