RAF " workman " helps himself.
........after military police were tipped off that he was systematically stealing waste aviation fuel worth £660 from RAF Marham in west Norfolk.......
I know of an RAF SNCO who was court martialled for disposing of "surplus" drumstock AVTUR directly into the central heating oil tank of his married quarter. He was totally blatant about it and unsurprisingly someone reported him to the RAF Police.
Shame the old 4 star petrol is no longer generally available as it was until only a very few years back from a small number of specialist suppliers in my area. My classic competition car's old tech engine much preferred it to modern super unleaded. I did some research and discovered that AVGAS "LL" still contains four times as much tetra-ethyl lead as four star did. The "Low lead" is only compared to how much it used to contain. For off-road competition use I sometimes added one gallon of AVGAS to four of super unleaded. Ran like a dream; it improved the knock resistance very well, so I was able to advance the ignition timing a few degrees and the torque improvement was quite noticeable. An old trick used by many amateur race car owners.
The reason AVGAS should never be used in a modern car, even in small quantities, is because the products of combustion include lead salts which coat catalytic converters and lambda sensors, rendering them inoperative.
Shame the old 4 star petrol is no longer generally available as it was until only a very few years back from a small number of specialist suppliers in my area. My classic competition car's old tech engine much preferred it to modern super unleaded. I did some research and discovered that AVGAS "LL" still contains four times as much tetra-ethyl lead as four star did. The "Low lead" is only compared to how much it used to contain. For off-road competition use I sometimes added one gallon of AVGAS to four of super unleaded. Ran like a dream; it improved the knock resistance very well, so I was able to advance the ignition timing a few degrees and the torque improvement was quite noticeable. An old trick used by many amateur race car owners.
The reason AVGAS should never be used in a modern car, even in small quantities, is because the products of combustion include lead salts which coat catalytic converters and lambda sensors, rendering them inoperative.
One company I worked for were quite happy with the power cuts of the 70's because it allowed them to use contaminated avtur to run their standby generators. Not only did it save them the cost of disposal, they saved on the electricity as well. During the 3 day weeks they were able to operate full weeks too.
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I know of an RAF SNCO who was court martialled for disposing of "surplus" drumstock AVTUR directly into the central heating oil tank of his married quarter. He was totally blatant about it and unsurprisingly someone reported him to the RAF Police.
Former colleague of mine was in the M.T. at Wyton in the mid '80's......ran his triumph gt6 on the stuff! He also borrowed the station coach or mini bus to move house....his mate in the M.T. drove him home for lunch in the Staish's staff car.....pennants flying. They were most amused when the S.W.O. threw one up as they passed! Left an M.T. 4 tonner outside his mum and dad's house in Bradford overnight during an impromptu overnight stop on his way down from Lossie I think? He was one extremely wobbly character who went on to become a big hitter in the Jehova's Witness's!!!!
Apologies for thread drift but it just makes you wonder what else goes adrift!!
Apologies for thread drift but it just makes you wonder what else goes adrift!!
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I moved my possessions from Norfolk to a now-defunct London station in a 4-tonner. It was logged as a training run for the experienced civvy driver 
This guy won't have sought permission from anyone! Don't know how he got away with some of the stuff he got up to....and he was no bull sh*tter....had me in stitches!!!!!!! No wonder he found religion!!!!!
I also did a stint working with HM Customs on the Ellesmere Port RFTU - their Road Fuel Testing Unit. Specifically they roam around looking for "red diesel" as used in farm machinery, and the back of the van is a mobile testing laboratory able to check for any number of tax free "extenders" designed to mix with regular fuel and thus deprive the crown of its shekels.
I wonder if they still have them - this was all many moons ago.
I wonder if they still have them - this was all many moons ago.
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Everyone in the 70's 80's and 90's used to to run their diesel cars off waste avtur (not me gov)
And bung it in their heating oil tanks also. Works the same, just smells like an aeroplane has just passed over.
I know people in tank bays and pol who have retired with the millions they have made in waste avtur? (cue the daily fkwit mail alert)
Also good for starting bbq's, they say?
And bung it in their heating oil tanks also. Works the same, just smells like an aeroplane has just passed over.
I know people in tank bays and pol who have retired with the millions they have made in waste avtur? (cue the daily fkwit mail alert)
Also good for starting bbq's, they say?
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Works the same, just smells like an aeroplane has just passed over
I remember we picked up a couple of Civi MT drivers on the way back from Germany with a Chevy estate or escort estate they had been sent out to return to the UK.
We brought them back from Gutersloh in one hop in a Chinook, asking the driver what he was planning to do with the couple of extra days he now had off, he replied he planned to take the missus out somewhere nice to put the required miles on the car and to use up the fuel and accommodation monies they had given him for the trip back to the UK.... I hope they both had a good time.
I also did a stint working with HM Customs on the Ellesmere Port RFTU - their Road Fuel Testing Unit
Young and naive in 1963, I didn't give it much thought when on night shift the cpl told me to 'stand there and call me quickly if you see anyone coming' as he disappeared into the garage with a can. Now the power pack used to provide hydraulic pressure to the jacks used to load Vulcan bomb carriers was powered by a Ford 100E engine, so need I say more? When I cottoned on, night shift became a game of dodge the cpl. Anyway, my Norton took 4 star.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one caught doing it, just the worst offender by a country mile and a number of other contractors found them suddenly unemployed.
One I remember was scandal that happened at a long closed radar station in Northern Ireland about a year before it closed. One day the boys in suits from P&SS NI descended on the station and closed the supply section for a couple of days. Next thing that happens is OC Supply is gone, OC Admin is gone and the Station Commander is gone. Due to the security situation, all of the white fleet vehicles were hired with NI registration plates and the station had a normal petrol pump to refuel them. Apparently the OC supply was selling it to the locals, along with normal red fuels and other items out of the supply sqn. The Station execs found out about it and tried to cover it up (The fact that OC Eng and Supply remained suggests he was all for nailing the individual).
One I remember was scandal that happened at a long closed radar station in Northern Ireland about a year before it closed. One day the boys in suits from P&SS NI descended on the station and closed the supply section for a couple of days. Next thing that happens is OC Supply is gone, OC Admin is gone and the Station Commander is gone. Due to the security situation, all of the white fleet vehicles were hired with NI registration plates and the station had a normal petrol pump to refuel them. Apparently the OC supply was selling it to the locals, along with normal red fuels and other items out of the supply sqn. The Station execs found out about it and tried to cover it up (The fact that OC Eng and Supply remained suggests he was all for nailing the individual).
Last edited by MAINJAFAD; 22nd Feb 2017 at 01:24.
I was a member of the RAF Thornhill, 5 FTS (Rhodesia) gliding club back in 1952-53. We had a “Primary,” probably the most elementary form of flying machine then still flying; I’m sure the Wright Brothers would feel very much at home with it. Initial flights were flown in this "Primary" before eventually graduating to a "Tutor".
The tow truck was fuelled by high-octane fuel "milked" from the station's Harvards - so purloining fuel for leisure purposes, albeit for a sanctioned leisure activity goes back to 1952 at least.
My first six-foot above the ground flight in the "Primary" as it was dragged across the airfield by the tow-truck.
Mind you the club still charged 1/- (5p) for each launch, probably charged to repair the tow-truck's engine valve-seals which didn't agree with aviation high octane fuel!
WT
The tow truck was fuelled by high-octane fuel "milked" from the station's Harvards - so purloining fuel for leisure purposes, albeit for a sanctioned leisure activity goes back to 1952 at least.
My first six-foot above the ground flight in the "Primary" as it was dragged across the airfield by the tow-truck.
Mind you the club still charged 1/- (5p) for each launch, probably charged to repair the tow-truck's engine valve-seals which didn't agree with aviation high octane fuel!
WT
AVTUR has no lubricants in it compared to diesel, it is just refined paraffin
In recent years the quality of petroleum feedstocks used by refineries has decreased. This has necessitated the use of severe refinery processes in order to produce jet fuels of high thermal stability and cleanliness. Unfortunately these processes remove the compounds that are responsible for a fuel's inherent lubricity. As a result, fuel lubricated engine components are experiencing greater wear and mechanical failure.
The incidence of lubricity related problems in commercial and military jet aircraft has increased over the past twenty years. This is a result of the need for more severe refinery processes to remove trace fuel species that adversely affect thermal stability and water removal by coalescence. These processes also remove trace polar species that are responsible for a fuel's inherent lubricity properties.
In the late 1960s, it was serendipitously found that a pipeline corrosion inhibitor had a significant effect on lubricity enhancement. The additive's original intended purpose was to decrease corrosion to fuel handling systems and transfer lines. The additive is effective as a corrosion inhibitor due to its surface-active nature. The active ingredient in most corrosion inhibitors is a dimeric organic acid, usually dilinoleic acid (DLA). It is the surface-active nature of the dimeric acid that causes the corrosion inhibitor to be an effective lubricity enhancer.
The use of a corrosion inhibitor as a lubricity enhancer is now required in all military JP-4 and JP-5 jet fuel. Unfortunately the additive can hinder water removal by coalescence. In other cases a fuel may have adequate lubricity initially and would preclude the use of the additive. Currently there is no lubricity specification for either commercial or military jet fuel. This has been due primarily to the lack of a test method; hence, the mandatory addition of the additive to assure adequate lubricity.
The incidence of lubricity related problems in commercial and military jet aircraft has increased over the past twenty years. This is a result of the need for more severe refinery processes to remove trace fuel species that adversely affect thermal stability and water removal by coalescence. These processes also remove trace polar species that are responsible for a fuel's inherent lubricity properties.
In the late 1960s, it was serendipitously found that a pipeline corrosion inhibitor had a significant effect on lubricity enhancement. The additive's original intended purpose was to decrease corrosion to fuel handling systems and transfer lines. The additive is effective as a corrosion inhibitor due to its surface-active nature. The active ingredient in most corrosion inhibitors is a dimeric organic acid, usually dilinoleic acid (DLA). It is the surface-active nature of the dimeric acid that causes the corrosion inhibitor to be an effective lubricity enhancer.
The use of a corrosion inhibitor as a lubricity enhancer is now required in all military JP-4 and JP-5 jet fuel. Unfortunately the additive can hinder water removal by coalescence. In other cases a fuel may have adequate lubricity initially and would preclude the use of the additive. Currently there is no lubricity specification for either commercial or military jet fuel. This has been due primarily to the lack of a test method; hence, the mandatory addition of the additive to assure adequate lubricity.
run on scrap AVTUR with the addition of some OM15 for diesel pump lubrication.
I know a camp where a petrol scam ran for x years!Collected on friday afternoons and put in your boot!!A rover 75 ran well on it ,no problems !Rule 1 dont bring back your empty AL-5 drums!!Rule 2 if your heard talking about it then the scheme is shut down!!A solo airman was caught and sent to Colchester for a while.
When I was volunteered to be OC the station gliding club at an RAF station in East Anglia, since squaddified, we were permitted to use waste AVTUR in the winch and retrieve truck. Or so I was told - not that I bothered to ask for any proof.
One day I was over at the club when a Landrover turned up out of which hopped on of our members, who was a corporal on one of the flying squadrons. Spotting me, he said "Ah....Oh, Sir, Air Traffic have been on the phone to us, they've been trying to call you." I thanked him and went over to the clubhouse to use the phone..."No sir, it wasn't us", replied the ATC local assistant...."Nor us", said his colleague on the switchboard. As we were speaking, through the window I saw the corporal looking around rather shiftily, before removing certain green cans from the back of the Landrover, which he handed to his mate before driving back to his work.
On closer inspection a little later, I found that the empty cans were labelled OM15.
But of course I hadn't seen them being delivered, had I - I'd been on the phone at the time...
One day I was over at the club when a Landrover turned up out of which hopped on of our members, who was a corporal on one of the flying squadrons. Spotting me, he said "Ah....Oh, Sir, Air Traffic have been on the phone to us, they've been trying to call you." I thanked him and went over to the clubhouse to use the phone..."No sir, it wasn't us", replied the ATC local assistant...."Nor us", said his colleague on the switchboard. As we were speaking, through the window I saw the corporal looking around rather shiftily, before removing certain green cans from the back of the Landrover, which he handed to his mate before driving back to his work.
On closer inspection a little later, I found that the empty cans were labelled OM15.But of course I hadn't seen them being delivered, had I - I'd been on the phone at the time...
