WW2 Aviation Fuel Supplies

[Resmoroh]

I read, many years ago, that a significant percentage of the fuel used at the East of England WW2 airfields was transported from the West of England ports by a series of underground pipe-lines. Is there any truth in this and - if so - do any maps survive which might show where they ran? As a small boy my bedroom overlooked a large railway marshalling yard. I doubt if I gave the problem much thought then, but what I do remember was seeing tanks and guns on flat wagons, hospital trains(at Dunkirk and D-Day), etc, but there were very few railway petrol tankers. Very much the same system is in operation today at the major civil airports. There is a Bulk Fuel Installation (BFI) on the airport which is fed by pipe-line from a number of peripheral BFIs. These, in turn, are often fed directly from a refinery.
What did they do in WW2 to move the millions of gallons of a/c 'gravy' from dock(s) to airfield(s)?
Resmoroh

[Engineer]

There,s a fair bit of detail and a 1944 plan in the Fuel Depots thread.

[Resmoroh]

Engineer,
Tks for that.
Resmoroh

[Engineer]

Not sure which thread the plan is in or if it,s still accessible. Have another.

[Resmoroh]

Engineer,
Many tks. That was exactly what I was looking for.
I am trying to find out if the pipeline section from Misterton to Sandy ran anywhere near RAF Wittering.
Tks yr help
Resmoroh

[smiler16]

just a random question but on average how many bfi`s were there on a standerd class A airfield during the war then

thanks rich

[Osgood]

....I am trying to find out if the pipeline section from Misterton to Sandy ran anywhere near RAF Wittering......

www.linewatch.co.uk for current pipeline data. You'd have to request detailed maps or try contacting the operator GPSS (Government Pipelines and Storage Systems).

[PETERTHEEATER]

just a random question but on average how many bfi`s were there on a standerd class A airfield during the war then

thanks rich

From looking at a number of Record Site Plan copies, the usual number was two in two separate locations and usually of 72,000 gallons capacity each.

[smiler16]

thats intresting as i was speaking to a works service manager on the m and e side and he informed me that linton had 4 bfi`s at one point in select locations on the domistic and airfield side

cheers rich

[PETERTHEEATER]

I am referring to Bulk AVIATION Fuel; most airfields had also a much smaller BFI for MOTOR fuel.

Undoubtedly, some WW2 airfields had more than two BFIs (Aviation) but nothing springs to mind.

In the case of airfields such as Linton (which was a pre-war permanent station built under the 'Expansion' plan) continuing in use with the RAF post-war well into the 60s and 70s, new BFIs may have been built for AVTUR with the pre-war/WW2 BFIs becoming redundant but left intact giving three or four installations in total.