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Originally Posted by Kurfürst
Dear Condor,
I will look into the papers you have provided, though in my opinion not much new is surfacing in the thread, some people just like to repeat themselves. As others have correctly observed, this thread long took a demented course ever since some people graced us with their enduring presence. Most of us, and I dare to say correctly, already drawn the conclusion that the amount of Stations/Squadrons operating on 100 octane fuel cannot be ascertained - although its well known and undoubted for 70 years that it was used - we lack sufficient evidence to form an educated opinion about its extent.
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Unfortunately I did not have access to the stuff paid for, but these seem more clearly explained the use of 100-octane:
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The paper covers over fifty years of aviation gasoline development, beginning with a description of the Wright brothers’ 12 horsepower engine and their use of below 40 octane gasoline. Early investigations of the detonation phenomenon are described and the means developed to suppress knock by improving fuel quality. Why the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine of the RAF Spitfire was found to require a special 100 octane fuel for the Battle of Britain is explained.
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But even "the amount of Stations/Squadrons operating on 100 octane fuel cannot be ascertained" the amount of fuel existed:
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The most dramatic benefit of the earliest Houdry units was in the production of 100-octane aviation gasoline, just before the outbreak of World War II. The Houdry plants provided a better gasoline for blending with scarce high-octane components, as well as by-products that could be converted by other processes to make more high-octane fractions. The increased performance meant that Allied planes were better than Axis planes by a factor of 15 percent to 30 percent in engine power for take-off and climbing; 25 percent in payload; 10 percent in maximum speed; and 12 percent in operational altitude. In the first six months of 1940, at the time of the Battle of Britain, 1.1 million barrels per month of 100-octane aviation gasoline was shipped to the Allies. Houdry plants produced 90 percent of this catalytically cracked gasoline during the first two years of the war.
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If that amount was really enough there is no reason to suppose that the british would not use it in yours fighters.