This post is thanks to “Untold War Archives.” [Webmaster’s NOTE:This was NOT a “mechanic’s crazy” idea, but rather a young Pratt & Whitney Chemical Engineer’s scheme.]
During WWII, Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engineers developed a novel innovation designed to push fighter plane engines beyond their normal limits: injecting a water-alcohol mixture directly into Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engines to safely prevent catastrophic engine detonation or “knock” – and sure failure – at extreme power levels.
The initial theory was that this anti-detonation injection system would cool the combustion process just enough to allow pilots to safely crank up and boost their engine manifold pressure for short bursts, delivering critical extra horsepower when it mattered most.
However, the early combat flight trials over Europe were disastrous, actually destroying the massive radial P&W R-2800 engines. The alcohol-water mixture initially used was Isopropyl alcohol.*
The Army Air Force’s top “experts” convened in an emergency session at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio to determine what action to take. The group quickly decided that the entire concept had to be shelved, and the entire water-alcohol injection system needed to be immediately removed from all Army aircraft.
Among all the attending “experts” was a young junior P&W chemical engineer, Frank Walker. Determined to solve this crisis, Walker immediately set to work and came up with a solution, he claimed, but incorporating the young, inexperienced engineer’s changes was considered foolish and quickly turned down. But, acting clandestinely, against the ‘experts’ unified conclusion, his simple solution of changing the type of alcohol (From Isopropyl to Methanol) was taken to Europe – – – where it saved the day.
The final result showed that the U.S. P-47 and P-51 fighters could suddenly climb faster and sprint harder in combat—seemingly defying what should have been physically possible for their engines. The astounding success of Walker’s simple solution was actually attempted in Col. Gabreski’sP-47.
Walker’s unapproved initiative could have easily resulted in a court-martial for all of his fellow conspirators.
Instead, this brash and literally insubordinate gamble made Walker a first-class hero, whose persistence against the overly conservative bureaucracy and its assemblage of top “experts” resulted in the entire reversal of the Air War over the continent, and the saving of untold thousands of American and Allied lives.
Disclaimer:
This video is a dramatized retelling of a true World War II event, created for educational reflection purposes. Elements of the narrative have been artistically interpreted, and creative tools, including AI, were used to enhance the storytelling experience. The video is 37 min 32 sec. in length. Viewing it right here in your FASF website may eliminate some of the advertisements. Use Full-Screen.
Frank Walker’schemistry had created technological superiority that German manufacturing could not overcome. Walkerhimself returned to the Pratt and Whitney Laboratory in Connecticut after the unproductive Wright AFB emergency meeting, where he continued developing combustion chemistry that would soon power the next generation of American aircraft. His wartime breakthrough became the foundation for turbine engine development, rocket propulsion research, and ultimately the chemical systems that would power spacecraft to the moon. His methanol-water injection that saved American fighters in 1944 evolved into the cryogenic fuel systems that defined the space age.
The final irony was discovered after the war’s end, in German technical documents that showed Luftwaffe engineers had understood the theoretical basis for alcohol injection years before the Americans’ implementation, but their own hyper-conservative approach differed little from that of the Wright-Patterson assembly, of top American “experts.” Consequently, the Nazis’ own Intransigence led to their failure to implement an engine feature that could really have changed the war’s outcome.
The laws of physics had not been defied. They had been revealed by a junior chemical engineer whose laboratory work transformed the fundamental equation of aerial warfare.
*
The above CHART shows the 3 basic Types of Alcohol and their differences.
But, thanks to long-time FASF member and retired United Air Lines Captain, Nancy Aldrich, a loyal Texan, and regular aviation author, we have this fascinating and little-known story of how an East Texas refinery – and one of its sharper engineers, Tim Palucka – helped change the war’s outcome – in our favor – by his use of an obscure French patent on gasoline refining.
Without further ado, here’s the tale:
87 Octane Aviation Gasoline vs 100 130 Octane Aviation Gasoline in WWII
(This is a declassified article by the British Society of Chemists (Declassified in 2014) )
“It has always puzzled me as to why the German Luftwaffe kept on using 87 Octane Aviation Gasoline while the Americans and British used 100 Octane Gasoline in their Spitfire Fighters and Americans used 130 Octane in our P-51 and other fighters. (see both aircraft below)
P-51 Mustang leads Spitfire in close formation flight
This morning I discovered the reason!
It seems that the German and British aircraft both used 87 Octane Gasoline in the first two years of the war. While that was fairly satisfactory in the German Daimler-Benz V-12 engine, It was marginal in the British Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine in British aircraft. It fouled the spark-plugs, caused valves to stick, And made frequent engine repair problems.
P-51 Fighter in Flight
Then came lend-lease, and American aircraft began to enter British service in great numbers. If British engines hated 87 Octane gasoline, American, General Motors Built, Allison 1710 engines loathed and despised it.
ME 109 Messerschmitts escorting Nazi Heinkel Bombers
B-17E Flying Fortress
SUNOCO officials pour the billionth gallon of high octane aviation fuel produced during world war II
Something had to be done!
Along came an American named Tim Palucka, a chemist for Sun Oil (SUNOCO) in their South East Texas Refinery.
Never heard of him? Small wonder, very few people have. He took a French formula for enhancing the octane of Gasoline, and invented the “Cracking Tower” and produced 100 octane aviation Gasoline.
This discovery led to great joy among our English Cousins and great distress among the Germans. A Spitfire fueled with 100 Octane gasoline was 34 miles per hour faster at 10,000 feet.
The need to replace engines went from every 500 hours of operation to every 1,000 hours. Which reduced the cost of British aircraft by 300 Pounds Sterling. Even more, when used in 4 engine bombers.
The Germans couldn’t believe it when Spitfires that couldn’t catch them a year ago started shooting their ME-109 E and G models right out of the sky.
Of course, the matter had to be kept secret. If the Germans found out that it was a French Invention, They’d simply copy the original French patents. If any of you have ever wondered what they were doing in that 3 story white brick building in front of the Sun Oil Refinery on Old Highway 90, that was it.
They were re-inventing gasoline.
The American Allison engines improved remarkably with 100 Octane gasoline but did much better when 130 octane gasoline came along in 1944. The 130 Octane also improved the Radial Engined Bombers we produced.
The Germans and Japanese never snapped to the fact that we had re-invented gasoline. Neither did our “Friends” the Russians.
100,000 Americans died in the skies over Europe. Lord only knows what that number would have been without “Super-Gasoline”. And it all was invented just a few miles west of Beaumont, and we never knew a thing about it.”
Aha – – – but there’s much more to this story than just recited above. In 1935, 6 years before Pearl Harbor and his country’s entry into WWII, Jimmy Doolittle, had retired from the Army and was working for the Shell Oil Company. He saw the need for a higher octane fuel if we should enter another war. So, click here, for more on the important role he played in the fuel octane race, which is not mentioned in the opening story above.
