WWII Japanese Fuel

[Steve jahn]

I work for a company that sells fuel to general aviation and military aircraft. I am an avid WWII historical reader but I have not given much thought to this question until a co worker asked me this today. He asked me, "what type of fuel did the Japanese use for their Army and Navy aircraft"? Certainly it was gasoline. But what type of blend and what octane did they use? Anyone have the info on this? I'm drawing a blank in my books and net searches.

Steve

[-Neu-]

Ah, awesome question.

Japanese aircraft used various 92/91 octane Gas, which they brought down to 87 during the summer. The vast majority was refined in plants across Japan, using foreign purchased crude. Fuel was a major consideration, as prior to the war most of their stocks were imported from California. Japan did not have any domestic deposits and their territorial possessions were relatively poor. I believe there were some deposits in Manchuria (shale oil), but it required quite a bit of work to get it into a usuable fluid. One thing that the Japanese were concerned about in the lead-up to Pearl Harbour was their strategic reserve. I think they possessed least six months of operational reserves (I think... I don;t have Kaigun in front of me.) When the oil embargo hit in 1940, they initially had to run off of their reserves until the fuel from Borneo and Sumatra started to flow. However in 1944 the fall of New Guinea and then the Phillipines completely cut off that supply:

When this occurred the Japanese looked to alternatives, much of it derived from distilled plant matter like sweet potatoes and pine root oil. Methyl alcohol was used for training aircraft, and other sources.

Edited December 15, 2013 by -Neu-

[Steve jahn]

Thanks a lot for that great information. That was really informative and I will let the guys know on sunday.

Steve

[JackMan]

Great post, Neu!