Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II
FWIW. I still use a TVO/Petrol engined Ferguson TE20 tractor. It has a two compartment fuel tank - one for each liquid & selected to feed the carb. via a two way tap.
I don't bother with the TVO equivalent nowadays (there is a formula) as it never vaporised well enough and the scraper rings took a little into the sump so apparently it 'made' oil. In fact it was of course the paraffin going down & diluting the oil which wasn't a 'good thing'.
Cheaper to save the bearings and for the relativley low hours per year petrol is always in both tanks.
Used it today in fact, with PTO driving a 6 ft topper, to cut the airstrip here in sunny Sussex.
mike hallam.
I don't bother with the TVO equivalent nowadays (there is a formula) as it never vaporised well enough and the scraper rings took a little into the sump so apparently it 'made' oil. In fact it was of course the paraffin going down & diluting the oil which wasn't a 'good thing'.
Cheaper to save the bearings and for the relativley low hours per year petrol is always in both tanks.
Used it today in fact, with PTO driving a 6 ft topper, to cut the airstrip here in sunny Sussex.
mike hallam.
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Alchemists Ancients and Modern.
Wander00, pzu and Pom Pax.
Thinking myself back into my boyhood in the '30s, I recall that there was a cheap imported Russian petrol. It sold under the title of "Russian Oil Products", or R.O.P. It was scornfully dubbed "Rotten Old P#ss", but I suppose it worked, otherwise it would not have sold at all.
"TVO" and the like (Tractor Vaporising Oil) were essentially Derv. Supplied for normal use, and subject to excise (petroleum) duty, the stuff was pretty colourless, as was the domestic heater paraffin, dyed ("Esso Blue") to taste by the manufacturer.
TVO was also supplied, duty free, to agriculture for use in tractors and stationery engines. This was dyed red, so that the zealous C&E would attend agricultural shows, farmer's markets and the like, to check Farmer Giles's muddy new Mercedes 500D was not running on "red" Derv.
Many and various were the subterfuges adopted to deceive our noble public servants. One was to fit a sort of giant alloy cigar tube, or cod-piece, into the filler inlet. The tank would be full of red derv, but the insert would contain only innocuous plain (legal) stuff. Hopefully, the Exciseman would not realise that the tube he was sucking on had not reached tank bottom.
A better idea was to go to source. The system was this: a tankerful of clear derv, but intended for farm use, had to go out of the refinery via a single, guarded exit. There was stationed an old chap with the red dye barrel and a gimlet eyed Customs man. If the red dye was not put in before his very eyes, the tanker did not go out. Quantities used were faithfully recorded.
Clearly the answer was to "get at" the old chap. C&E would be a harder nut to crack, but they found some way to distract him from his duties (the "honey trap"?), the tanker(s) got out with all the paperwork OK, and certain selected retail outlets got heavily discounted street-legal Derv wholesale.
Only snag was: the dye had to be accounted for, too. The old chap soon had a 50-gallon drum of the stuff that shouldn't exist; he poured it down the drain; but local anglers started to complain about this pinkish water; the whole profitable business unravelled; people went into durance vile, and that was that.
Many were the fables that circulated about this red stuff. One of the most captivating was this: the Republic of Ireland ran a similar scheme, but their dye was (not surprisingly) green. The story was that, if you mixed it with the red stuff North of the border in the correct proportion, the colour would vanish and you were home and dry (I cannot vouch for this). And of course, there was no lack of snake-oil additives which purported to produce the same result. They did not work.
Danny.
Thinking myself back into my boyhood in the '30s, I recall that there was a cheap imported Russian petrol. It sold under the title of "Russian Oil Products", or R.O.P. It was scornfully dubbed "Rotten Old P#ss", but I suppose it worked, otherwise it would not have sold at all.
"TVO" and the like (Tractor Vaporising Oil) were essentially Derv. Supplied for normal use, and subject to excise (petroleum) duty, the stuff was pretty colourless, as was the domestic heater paraffin, dyed ("Esso Blue") to taste by the manufacturer.
TVO was also supplied, duty free, to agriculture for use in tractors and stationery engines. This was dyed red, so that the zealous C&E would attend agricultural shows, farmer's markets and the like, to check Farmer Giles's muddy new Mercedes 500D was not running on "red" Derv.
Many and various were the subterfuges adopted to deceive our noble public servants. One was to fit a sort of giant alloy cigar tube, or cod-piece, into the filler inlet. The tank would be full of red derv, but the insert would contain only innocuous plain (legal) stuff. Hopefully, the Exciseman would not realise that the tube he was sucking on had not reached tank bottom.
A better idea was to go to source. The system was this: a tankerful of clear derv, but intended for farm use, had to go out of the refinery via a single, guarded exit. There was stationed an old chap with the red dye barrel and a gimlet eyed Customs man. If the red dye was not put in before his very eyes, the tanker did not go out. Quantities used were faithfully recorded.
Clearly the answer was to "get at" the old chap. C&E would be a harder nut to crack, but they found some way to distract him from his duties (the "honey trap"?), the tanker(s) got out with all the paperwork OK, and certain selected retail outlets got heavily discounted street-legal Derv wholesale.
Only snag was: the dye had to be accounted for, too. The old chap soon had a 50-gallon drum of the stuff that shouldn't exist; he poured it down the drain; but local anglers started to complain about this pinkish water; the whole profitable business unravelled; people went into durance vile, and that was that.
Many were the fables that circulated about this red stuff. One of the most captivating was this: the Republic of Ireland ran a similar scheme, but their dye was (not surprisingly) green. The story was that, if you mixed it with the red stuff North of the border in the correct proportion, the colour would vanish and you were home and dry (I cannot vouch for this). And of course, there was no lack of snake-oil additives which purported to produce the same result. They did not work.
Danny.
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I can confirm that my father referred to ROP and it's origins, per Danny's post.
An Aussie Merchant seaman was adopted by the parents, he worked tankers and said they would walk along the deck tipping powder -dye into the various tanks before unloading....the main ones I remember, Regent Green, Aladdin pink, and of course, the famous Esso Blue.
In the late 1960's I lived at Leigh on Sea on the Thames Estuary. there were lots of boats with Morris Vedette Petrol-Paraffin engines (basically a 1500cc converted car engine) start on petrol, warm-up, then switch to parafffin .
Petrol 4/6 a gallon,(22 1/2P) paraffin 1/10 a gallon (~8p) Prices seemed very stable, back then, other than the chancellor's annual hike on beer, spirits and fags (only posh people drank wine! I was about 17 before I tasted any!)
in the 80's I ran a village garage/filling station I sold paraffin, there were 2 grades- "premium" which I could dye with a powder left by my predecessor (a tablespoon to 300 gallons! lovely deep blue!) and 28 second burning oil....which is "impure" paraffin, -light heating- oil....the heavier ,35 sec oil is also known as gas-oil or "red" or , in it's clear form, Road diesel.
"Slab" Murphy had a farm straddling the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic tankers of "red" would drive in from the North, tankers of "white" came out through the Republic, to find it's way on the ferry and the UK market.
Murphy is purported to have supported the IRA and boasted thet whatever bright chemist the Customs employed to mark "Red diesel" he would pay more to a brighter bod who could remove all the C&E markers. Red is less than half the price of road-fuel!
Apologies for thread-drift, hope it contributes something.
An Aussie Merchant seaman was adopted by the parents, he worked tankers and said they would walk along the deck tipping powder -dye into the various tanks before unloading....the main ones I remember, Regent Green, Aladdin pink, and of course, the famous Esso Blue.
In the late 1960's I lived at Leigh on Sea on the Thames Estuary. there were lots of boats with Morris Vedette Petrol-Paraffin engines (basically a 1500cc converted car engine) start on petrol, warm-up, then switch to parafffin .
Petrol 4/6 a gallon,(22 1/2P) paraffin 1/10 a gallon (~8p) Prices seemed very stable, back then, other than the chancellor's annual hike on beer, spirits and fags (only posh people drank wine! I was about 17 before I tasted any!)
in the 80's I ran a village garage/filling station I sold paraffin, there were 2 grades- "premium" which I could dye with a powder left by my predecessor (a tablespoon to 300 gallons! lovely deep blue!) and 28 second burning oil....which is "impure" paraffin, -light heating- oil....the heavier ,35 sec oil is also known as gas-oil or "red" or , in it's clear form, Road diesel.
"Slab" Murphy had a farm straddling the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic tankers of "red" would drive in from the North, tankers of "white" came out through the Republic, to find it's way on the ferry and the UK market.
Murphy is purported to have supported the IRA and boasted thet whatever bright chemist the Customs employed to mark "Red diesel" he would pay more to a brighter bod who could remove all the C&E markers. Red is less than half the price of road-fuel!
Apologies for thread-drift, hope it contributes something.
I'm sorry to say that all Cockney Steve says is true. Danny notes that the Republic of Ireland ran a similar scheme, but their dye was (not surprisingly) green. The story was that, if you mixed it with the red stuff North of the border in the correct proportion, the colour would vanish and you were home and dry.
Not quite, but both products can be laundered by various processes involving acid and fuller's earth etc. The result is very dodgy diesel which wrecks fuel injection systems and tons of dangerous sludge dumped in country areas. Large quantities are illegally exported, if you tank up diesel at very low prices expect a huge engine bill!
To return to thread, my father recalled an MU where Lancasters were delivered from the factory, test flown, snags remedied, then taxied round the airfield, gear up with engines idling, and cut up for scrap. Apparently the contract had to be completed ...
Three hapless airmen took the avgas tank drainings for their own motorbikes and ancient cars. The slow-burning avgas burned the exhaust valves, and Their Airships had them court-martialled for taking Her Majesty's avgas. They should have allowed it to drain from the edge of the dispersal and pollute the surrounding area, this being the approved procedure.
Not quite, but both products can be laundered by various processes involving acid and fuller's earth etc. The result is very dodgy diesel which wrecks fuel injection systems and tons of dangerous sludge dumped in country areas. Large quantities are illegally exported, if you tank up diesel at very low prices expect a huge engine bill!
To return to thread, my father recalled an MU where Lancasters were delivered from the factory, test flown, snags remedied, then taxied round the airfield, gear up with engines idling, and cut up for scrap. Apparently the contract had to be completed ...
Three hapless airmen took the avgas tank drainings for their own motorbikes and ancient cars. The slow-burning avgas burned the exhaust valves, and Their Airships had them court-martialled for taking Her Majesty's avgas. They should have allowed it to drain from the edge of the dispersal and pollute the surrounding area, this being the approved procedure.
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cockney steve,
4/6 a galllon, forsooth! In my young days it was 1/4, and ROP undercut it @ 1/3 or 1/2. And I still recall the headlines (just prewar) when 20 ciggies went down from 1/- to 11½d !
I'd quite forgotten the twin-tank marine engine, but that solution was hardly practicable in a road-car.
Our ever-patient Moderators allow considerable latitude on this Thread (this has made it into the most popular Forum which it is).
Danny.
4/6 a galllon, forsooth! In my young days it was 1/4, and ROP undercut it @ 1/3 or 1/2. And I still recall the headlines (just prewar) when 20 ciggies went down from 1/- to 11½d !
I'd quite forgotten the twin-tank marine engine, but that solution was hardly practicable in a road-car.
Our ever-patient Moderators allow considerable latitude on this Thread (this has made it into the most popular Forum which it is).
Danny.
I have been fortunate to have travelled over a large part of China. Many places I have been to have never seen a Westerner before. One gets used to young children hiding behind their mothers skirts because I am a ‘gweilo’, a white ghost that comes into naughty children’s bedrooms at night. Over the twenty odd years that I have been there, I have seen 500,000,000 people lifted from abject poverty to having something in life worth living. That still leaves another half a billion who are waiting.
Just over the fence was a farmer and his whole life revolved around about half an acre. At one end was a big shed where he lived with his family, one wife and one statuary child. His little acre was solid with vegetables in every stage of growth and every morning he would spend two or three hours with two large watering cans feeding the crops with diluted night soil. He had already been up before daylight so that he could cut that days produce to take to the farmers market in Longwan. On the way he would stop by a man with a hosepipe who would, for a few fen, douse his crops with water so that they weighed more when they arrived. He never stopped sowing and planting all day apart from meals and this was in winter. His collective daily produce would probably realise about 20-25 yuan, six days a week. Assuming everything went well he would have an income of about 7,000yuan; at that time £470 a year. Before the reforms in 1978 he would only have had what the Collective would have given him.
There was an MD80 in China Northern colours with a Hainan Airlines crew that would fly Hainan-Guangzhou-Shanghai and then to Wenzhou for a night stop. The next day it would reverse the route. There seemed to be three crews that did this roster continuously and two of the pilots we got quite friendly with.
At this time China’s licensing system was not in accordance with IATA. A Chinese national licence was in Chinese only as were most of their let down plates. This restricted the holder to Chinese airspace and he could not fly overseas until he had a foreign going licence similar to an internationally accepted ATPL To pass this he had to pass an English exam and an international navigation paper. This meant that he had to be familiar and be able to fly procedures according to Jeppersons. This was difficult because it was almost impossible for them to get hold of a set of Jeps.
But we had them.
We came to a mutually satisfactory arrangement. They would practice procedural English whilst studying and being prompted by us with our Jeppersons. In return they would buy the beer. The bar used to close at nine and one evening at that time we were in full learning mode. The problem was solved by the captain sending his steward out to the aircraft and he returned with a slab of Princess Lager from the aircraft’s galley. We didn’t have early takeoffs as we had to wait for our pax to fly in but they did. I don’t know what their company’s regs with regard to bottle to throttle was but it was way less than ours. As time went by the Chinese aviation system came closer to ICAO standards. Towards the end of my flying days they stopped pilots flying with an endorsement for their foreign licence and we were required to get a Chinese ATPL(H) and I was over sixty-five at that time. In answer to our query CAAC said that if I passed the exams and the medical I would get a licence. This I did and at sixty-seven I may well have been the oldest commercial pilot in China.
The time came when the NH 5 had finished it task and was going down south. It was being replaced by an all Chinese rig so they did not need white eyes up front. We would return to Shenzhen leaving the Chinese machine to carry on. SAR? no problem.
Before we left there had to be a company dinner. You do not mess about with company dinners in China. You find the best restaurant and order the best food, lots of it. The Chinese captains organised it in a fabulous place in Wenzhou. You have to be careful dining as a guest. Every one of your hosts, all fifteen of them are honour bound to challenge you to ‘Gambie’; basically to throw down a drink as fast as possible. Fortunately the Chinese beer was a licence brewed Papst which most Brits can drink continuously so one after the other challenging you was easy enough.
There were the usual speeches to which we replied on how good the co-operation had been-it had. Then one of the co-pilots gave a speech addressed to me. To get it into perspective I was a fairly heavy smoker in China. (When in China----). There were no rules about smoking in the cockpit so I would continue to get through my 40/day at 50p/packet. The co-pilot described how everybody liked to fly with me because they could always find their way back to base. They just followed the dog ends in the sea. They then presented me with a fiery dragon table lighter which is still one of my favourite possessions.
The next day I flew to Xiamin, lunch, then routed via Shantou and along the coast to Shenzhen. The next time I routed that way was slightly different but I have already described that.
I will be giving this a rest now as I shall be travelling some.
FED
Just over the fence was a farmer and his whole life revolved around about half an acre. At one end was a big shed where he lived with his family, one wife and one statuary child. His little acre was solid with vegetables in every stage of growth and every morning he would spend two or three hours with two large watering cans feeding the crops with diluted night soil. He had already been up before daylight so that he could cut that days produce to take to the farmers market in Longwan. On the way he would stop by a man with a hosepipe who would, for a few fen, douse his crops with water so that they weighed more when they arrived. He never stopped sowing and planting all day apart from meals and this was in winter. His collective daily produce would probably realise about 20-25 yuan, six days a week. Assuming everything went well he would have an income of about 7,000yuan; at that time £470 a year. Before the reforms in 1978 he would only have had what the Collective would have given him.
There was an MD80 in China Northern colours with a Hainan Airlines crew that would fly Hainan-Guangzhou-Shanghai and then to Wenzhou for a night stop. The next day it would reverse the route. There seemed to be three crews that did this roster continuously and two of the pilots we got quite friendly with.
At this time China’s licensing system was not in accordance with IATA. A Chinese national licence was in Chinese only as were most of their let down plates. This restricted the holder to Chinese airspace and he could not fly overseas until he had a foreign going licence similar to an internationally accepted ATPL To pass this he had to pass an English exam and an international navigation paper. This meant that he had to be familiar and be able to fly procedures according to Jeppersons. This was difficult because it was almost impossible for them to get hold of a set of Jeps.
But we had them.
We came to a mutually satisfactory arrangement. They would practice procedural English whilst studying and being prompted by us with our Jeppersons. In return they would buy the beer. The bar used to close at nine and one evening at that time we were in full learning mode. The problem was solved by the captain sending his steward out to the aircraft and he returned with a slab of Princess Lager from the aircraft’s galley. We didn’t have early takeoffs as we had to wait for our pax to fly in but they did. I don’t know what their company’s regs with regard to bottle to throttle was but it was way less than ours. As time went by the Chinese aviation system came closer to ICAO standards. Towards the end of my flying days they stopped pilots flying with an endorsement for their foreign licence and we were required to get a Chinese ATPL(H) and I was over sixty-five at that time. In answer to our query CAAC said that if I passed the exams and the medical I would get a licence. This I did and at sixty-seven I may well have been the oldest commercial pilot in China.
The time came when the NH 5 had finished it task and was going down south. It was being replaced by an all Chinese rig so they did not need white eyes up front. We would return to Shenzhen leaving the Chinese machine to carry on. SAR? no problem.
Before we left there had to be a company dinner. You do not mess about with company dinners in China. You find the best restaurant and order the best food, lots of it. The Chinese captains organised it in a fabulous place in Wenzhou. You have to be careful dining as a guest. Every one of your hosts, all fifteen of them are honour bound to challenge you to ‘Gambie’; basically to throw down a drink as fast as possible. Fortunately the Chinese beer was a licence brewed Papst which most Brits can drink continuously so one after the other challenging you was easy enough.
There were the usual speeches to which we replied on how good the co-operation had been-it had. Then one of the co-pilots gave a speech addressed to me. To get it into perspective I was a fairly heavy smoker in China. (When in China----). There were no rules about smoking in the cockpit so I would continue to get through my 40/day at 50p/packet. The co-pilot described how everybody liked to fly with me because they could always find their way back to base. They just followed the dog ends in the sea. They then presented me with a fiery dragon table lighter which is still one of my favourite possessions.
The next day I flew to Xiamin, lunch, then routed via Shantou and along the coast to Shenzhen. The next time I routed that way was slightly different but I have already described that.
I will be giving this a rest now as I shall be travelling some.
FED
TVO
AAs a young lad, 11 to 15, 65-69 I grew up working on the farm of Mr Joss Holland of Edingale in Staffordshire (Master of Edingale). Famous for his breeding of shire horses, a simple Google will back up my claim, we used tractors in the winter months when the fields were wet and boggy and horses as power during the summer months. Our farm boasted three tractors, two Aliss Chalmers type B and one Type A (a three wheeler) that all ran on TVO (Tractor Vapourising Oil), in later years the smell of burning AVTUR supplied flashbacks to those tractors, at the end of the day, paraffin smells the same, however it is burnt. The tractors had been shipped over the Atlantic during the war years, at great risk so would have far more value in reality than the price paid by "Joss"
As an aside I offer an amusing, to me anyway, incident, that occurred whilst employed on the farm as a 12 year old youngster. We (there were about three of my age) were sent to a field one day to disperse a large cowcrap pile across the local landscape, muck spreading we called it and it required that us, the lads, loaded muck into the bed of a trailer with a built in conveyor belt and spinning paddles (designed to disperse the manure) all driven by the wheels through a gearbox. Mushie Hallam, yep, that was Mr Hallams nomenclature, was to drive the type A tractor that day, and off we went. By lunchtime we were well down the "muck pile", and, having no washing facilities took "pot luck" on hygiene whilst shoving our jam butties down our faces. As the afternoon drew on, we reached the bottom of the year old pile, which had been underpinned with rubble to help drainage. Somewhere in our frantic forking, one of us managed half a house brick amongst the load. Resting, and watching Mushie drive his line we were amazed to see the brick, flipped by the paddles on the back of the muck spreader, hit him smack bang on the back of the head. The Allis type A, a very light on its one front wheel tractor, and having a hand throttle, continued on its merry way. Mushie by this time was completely non compus mentis. Hitting the hedge at the end of its line, the tractor reared up on its back wheels, as the front one was busy trying to demolish the hedge, the engine, powered by TVO continued to dig two large ruts in the field. As 12 year olds I think we responded well, by one of us going the 2 miles back to the farm to obtain a conscious, responsible adult to deal with it. The responsible adult duly turned up and shut the tractor down, which was now down on its axles, and needed the larger type B to drag it out of its hole. Mushie was fine after he was given a cup of tea by Mrs Holland, and allowed a second rich tea biscuit to accompany. 50 years later I have no problem ever recalling that event.
The three Allis Chalmers we had all ran on TVO (Tractor Vapourising Oil) and were hand cranked. There was a switch, and two fuel tanks. A small petrol tank and a much larger TVO tank. Crank it up on petrol, get the engine warm then switch it over to TVO. I did my driving course at 13 years old (on the farm) and remember well the starting sequence. As an aside, and many years later I was told by a fellow American C130 ground pounder that in emergency the "Herk" could run on whisky. I eventually went to sleep in my hammock, crossing the pond, trying to work out how many double Glenmorangies that would waste
I apologise to our mods for any diversion I might be responsible for, I claim mercy on the grounds that the three tractors concerned, like Danny, arrived in Britain to do their duty during the war years. The abuse of Scottish Whisky is a thing only an American serviceman could contemplate.
Smudge
As an aside I offer an amusing, to me anyway, incident, that occurred whilst employed on the farm as a 12 year old youngster. We (there were about three of my age) were sent to a field one day to disperse a large cowcrap pile across the local landscape, muck spreading we called it and it required that us, the lads, loaded muck into the bed of a trailer with a built in conveyor belt and spinning paddles (designed to disperse the manure) all driven by the wheels through a gearbox. Mushie Hallam, yep, that was Mr Hallams nomenclature, was to drive the type A tractor that day, and off we went. By lunchtime we were well down the "muck pile", and, having no washing facilities took "pot luck" on hygiene whilst shoving our jam butties down our faces. As the afternoon drew on, we reached the bottom of the year old pile, which had been underpinned with rubble to help drainage. Somewhere in our frantic forking, one of us managed half a house brick amongst the load. Resting, and watching Mushie drive his line we were amazed to see the brick, flipped by the paddles on the back of the muck spreader, hit him smack bang on the back of the head. The Allis type A, a very light on its one front wheel tractor, and having a hand throttle, continued on its merry way. Mushie by this time was completely non compus mentis. Hitting the hedge at the end of its line, the tractor reared up on its back wheels, as the front one was busy trying to demolish the hedge, the engine, powered by TVO continued to dig two large ruts in the field. As 12 year olds I think we responded well, by one of us going the 2 miles back to the farm to obtain a conscious, responsible adult to deal with it. The responsible adult duly turned up and shut the tractor down, which was now down on its axles, and needed the larger type B to drag it out of its hole. Mushie was fine after he was given a cup of tea by Mrs Holland, and allowed a second rich tea biscuit to accompany. 50 years later I have no problem ever recalling that event.
The three Allis Chalmers we had all ran on TVO (Tractor Vapourising Oil) and were hand cranked. There was a switch, and two fuel tanks. A small petrol tank and a much larger TVO tank. Crank it up on petrol, get the engine warm then switch it over to TVO. I did my driving course at 13 years old (on the farm) and remember well the starting sequence. As an aside, and many years later I was told by a fellow American C130 ground pounder that in emergency the "Herk" could run on whisky. I eventually went to sleep in my hammock, crossing the pond, trying to work out how many double Glenmorangies that would waste
I apologise to our mods for any diversion I might be responsible for, I claim mercy on the grounds that the three tractors concerned, like Danny, arrived in Britain to do their duty during the war years. The abuse of Scottish Whisky is a thing only an American serviceman could contemplate.Smudge
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Alternative Fuels.
Smudge,
If your "Mushie" were still in the saddle when the tractor started on the hedge, then he was very lucky that it didn't rear up and flop back on him, or he'd need more than tea 'n biscuit !
That Scotch should even be contemplated for such a purpose is sacrilege enough, but Glenmorangie ! You should start with the Indian (and Japanese ?) counterfeits, then take out all our blended stuff first, before resorting to such desperate measures.
I believe that, in principle, all hydrocarbon fuels from bacon dripping upwards should serve as diesel fuel, and I suppose it makes no odds if ethyl or methyl alcohol in any of its later guises is sprayed into the flame cans, provided it will ignite. But what a lovely aroma from the jet pipe if it were a single malt !
I must now take a soothing draught of the dark waters of the Liffey to restore my mental equilibrium.
Danny.
EDIT: Gentlemen, today is the 10th.
If your "Mushie" were still in the saddle when the tractor started on the hedge, then he was very lucky that it didn't rear up and flop back on him, or he'd need more than tea 'n biscuit !
That Scotch should even be contemplated for such a purpose is sacrilege enough, but Glenmorangie ! You should start with the Indian (and Japanese ?) counterfeits, then take out all our blended stuff first, before resorting to such desperate measures.
I believe that, in principle, all hydrocarbon fuels from bacon dripping upwards should serve as diesel fuel, and I suppose it makes no odds if ethyl or methyl alcohol in any of its later guises is sprayed into the flame cans, provided it will ignite. But what a lovely aroma from the jet pipe if it were a single malt !
I must now take a soothing draught of the dark waters of the Liffey to restore my mental equilibrium.
Danny.
EDIT: Gentlemen, today is the 10th.
Last edited by Danny42C; 10th Jun 2015 at 01:04. Reason: Second Thought.
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TVO....
Back in 1980 when I was first roaming the French canals in my little boat, I came across another Brit in Epernay. He had a splendid ageing wooden craft...and an engine that ran on TVO; unavailable in France. He told me that he carried numerous jerry cans and whenever he needed fuel, he would take a taxi to the nearest airport and fill them with avtur!! The bowser types would ask what it was for...and blench when told it was for his boat!! Probably visualising a Donald Campbell "Bluebird" type vessel.....
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TVO is neither fish nor fowl....this from the Friends of Ferguson Heritage...
RECIPE FOR TRACTOR VAPORISING OIL
There must only ever be 2 ingredients in TVO
Diesel fuel is designed to cause ignition by compression and will encourage pinking. It is not designed to burn in TVO tractors, and no upper cylinder lubricant is required in these tractors, so do not use anything other than petrol and heating oil.
Using fuel which does not burn completely will destroy the lubricating properties of the oil and that (in a Ferguson TE tractor) will result in wear to the cam shaft bushes and then loss of oil pressure from cam shaft bushes. Loss of oil pressure will, then result in damage to the crank shaft. Lubricating oil in a TVO tractor's engine should be changed according to the Tractor Instruction book.
YLSNED...!!
RECIPE FOR TRACTOR VAPORISING OIL
There must only ever be 2 ingredients in TVO
- Petrol (unleaded is absolutely fine for a Ferguson tractor) 98 Octane
- 28 Second Heating Oil 20 Octane
- 55 if doing very hard work
- 70 if doing topping and the like
- 1 petrol and 1 heating oil comes out at 59 Octane
- 2 petrol and 1 heating oil comes out at 72 Octane
- 1 petrol and 2 heating oil comes out at 46 Octane
- Petrol on its own is suitable for road runs (with the heat shield removed).
Diesel fuel is designed to cause ignition by compression and will encourage pinking. It is not designed to burn in TVO tractors, and no upper cylinder lubricant is required in these tractors, so do not use anything other than petrol and heating oil.
Using fuel which does not burn completely will destroy the lubricating properties of the oil and that (in a Ferguson TE tractor) will result in wear to the cam shaft bushes and then loss of oil pressure from cam shaft bushes. Loss of oil pressure will, then result in damage to the crank shaft. Lubricating oil in a TVO tractor's engine should be changed according to the Tractor Instruction book.
YLSNED...!!
Crikey, amazing what you learn on this forum. Owning a little grey Fergie is on my bucket list, although I did drive one at a gliding club in the Midlands years ago
Many's the furrow I ploughed on my neighbour's wee Fergie diesel. Does anybody remember the Fordson tractors which were fitted with road tyres and mudguards and used for airfield use? I think most RAF haulers were David Browns but I do recall Fordsons somewhere, maybe Binbrook in late 40s?
The Fordson ran on TVO and a friend has a preserved one, complete with magneto ignition. It's a monster of evil disposition, hand starts (the only way) can not so much break the wrist as hurl one into orbit
The Fergie of half the weight runs rings round it, but of course you need the weight to haul a Lancaster etc.
The Fordson ran on TVO and a friend has a preserved one, complete with magneto ignition. It's a monster of evil disposition, hand starts (the only way) can not so much break the wrist as hurl one into orbit
The Fergie of half the weight runs rings round it, but of course you need the weight to haul a Lancaster etc.
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Snake-Oil, anyone ?
Molemot,
I sit at the feet of the Master as a Seeker After Enlightenment ! (Truly, YLSNED).
I remember, some years ago, there appeared on the market a device consisting of a string bag containing a number of tin (?) alloy "marbles". These you lowered into your tank on a piece of string. They were supposed to act as a sort of catalyst, encouraging better combustion and allowing the use of much lower octane fuel, but without being consumed themselves. They were supposed to give you 10% more mileage and less coke build up.
Verisimilitude was added to this story by the fact (?) that the inventor was said to have been a Merlin fuel chemist during the war, and had gone over to Russia, where they were having trouble with the Spitfires and Hurricanes we'd shipped out to them, on account of the 65 Octane stuff the Soviets had got. Seems he developed this wizard wheeze then; the Merlins were happy with the result. Or so the story went.
A few moment's calculation showed me that, at the price they were, I should be dead before I reached payback stage with them, so I was more intrigued than tempted, but the owner of the garage I then frequented had tried the things in the old, big, petrol BMW he was running and swore by them.
Did you ever hear this tale, and what do you think of it ?
Danny.
EDIT: Anybody ?
I sit at the feet of the Master as a Seeker After Enlightenment ! (Truly, YLSNED).
I remember, some years ago, there appeared on the market a device consisting of a string bag containing a number of tin (?) alloy "marbles". These you lowered into your tank on a piece of string. They were supposed to act as a sort of catalyst, encouraging better combustion and allowing the use of much lower octane fuel, but without being consumed themselves. They were supposed to give you 10% more mileage and less coke build up.
Verisimilitude was added to this story by the fact (?) that the inventor was said to have been a Merlin fuel chemist during the war, and had gone over to Russia, where they were having trouble with the Spitfires and Hurricanes we'd shipped out to them, on account of the 65 Octane stuff the Soviets had got. Seems he developed this wizard wheeze then; the Merlins were happy with the result. Or so the story went.
A few moment's calculation showed me that, at the price they were, I should be dead before I reached payback stage with them, so I was more intrigued than tempted, but the owner of the garage I then frequented had tried the things in the old, big, petrol BMW he was running and swore by them.
Did you ever hear this tale, and what do you think of it ?
Danny.
EDIT: Anybody ?
Last edited by Danny42C; 12th Jun 2015 at 00:37. Reason: Widen Scope of Enquiry.
Jenkins
That bl***y Vanguard!! Once had to drive across the Pennines in one, fortunately the Old/Bold F/L pax. had a small set of tools with him so we managed to complete the run - just!!
That bl***y Vanguard!! Once had to drive across the Pennines in one, fortunately the Old/Bold F/L pax. had a small set of tools with him so we managed to complete the run - just!!
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Location: Fairford, Glos
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Danny, re your #7135 no need for snake oil if methanol was available! During that period in 1947-48 when there was no ‘Basic’, I adapted my 350cc ex-WD Royal Enfield (‘Built like a gun’ according to the maker’s blurb, and sounded like one too) to run on the stuff. Problem was, I also used petrol (legally) from time to time when attending RAFVR training so devised a method of doing this without having to drain the tank when changing fuels; a risky procedure if it involved the use of cans, as spillage would result in damage to paintwork (methanol being an excellent stripper).
In principle the mod involved having a can of methanol in one of the pannier bags, said can being slightly higher than the carburettor and feeding it via a siphonic tube through a cork in the can’s spout. At this distance in time I don’t recall details such as how I primed the siphonic flow or arranged the plumbing necessary for switching fuels, but vividly remember that running on meth did have a good side – the old bike pulled like a steam engine, when 2 up easily surmounting in top gear slopes that were barely manageable in third on petrol. The downside was that mpg was barely half, and also that a larger main jet was required; those acquainted with the old Amal carb will recall this necessitated separating float chamber and carb body, so switching from one fuel to the other was hardly a roadside job.
Then I suppose that, methanol being in fact an alcohol made from wood, it could be termed a renewable fuel – might I perhaps be styled as a forerunner of the Greens?!
In principle the mod involved having a can of methanol in one of the pannier bags, said can being slightly higher than the carburettor and feeding it via a siphonic tube through a cork in the can’s spout. At this distance in time I don’t recall details such as how I primed the siphonic flow or arranged the plumbing necessary for switching fuels, but vividly remember that running on meth did have a good side – the old bike pulled like a steam engine, when 2 up easily surmounting in top gear slopes that were barely manageable in third on petrol. The downside was that mpg was barely half, and also that a larger main jet was required; those acquainted with the old Amal carb will recall this necessitated separating float chamber and carb body, so switching from one fuel to the other was hardly a roadside job.
Then I suppose that, methanol being in fact an alcohol made from wood, it could be termed a renewable fuel – might I perhaps be styled as a forerunner of the Greens?!