FIDO - Mist Acceleration Service
Before the introduction of The Clean Air Act, thick fogs in England were not uncommon.
The plane that took off during the war on the bombing of Germany in good weather, on his return could get into such a fog, which is not visible landing strip.
According to the instructions, the pilot in this case should direct the plane towards the sea, and he himself and the crew should jump on parachutes. This led to significant non-combat aircraft losses.
In 1942, the British came up with FIDO - a fire system for dispersing fog:
The device for dispersing fog consisted of three pipes laid on both sides of the runway. Two lay on the ground, the top was located above them; holes were made in the lower tubes.
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Fuel was injected into the upper pipeline, which flowed into the lower pipes and beat up in streams through the holes. Electrically or manually the jet was set on fire, the upper pipe warmed up, the fuel in it evaporated and the system went to the operating mode: not gas, but gasoline vapors forming torches 60-180 cm high hit the holes.
The heat from the flame evaporated droplets of mist, and it dissipated.
When the system warmed up, the black smoke disappeared and a relatively clear flame remained.
Before and after switching on the system (after 9 minutes):
Using the system for different wind directions:
After the first night test landing, the pilot said that he felt like a circus lion, which needs to jump into a burning hoop. There was a slight turbulence from the hot air, but it did not cause any problems.
The system received its baptism of fire on the night of November 19, 1943 in the town of Fiskerton, when in 10 minutes it improved visibility in the fog from 100 yards to 2-4 miles. Landings that night were accompanied by comments from pilots like "It seemed we were going down to hell, but in the end it turned out not so bad."
From this day until the end of 1943, 39 successful landings in the fog were made at Fiskerton. In the spring of 1944, eight British airfields were equipped with FIDO, seven more were in process. In case of heavy fog, the returning bombers boarded the runway with FIDO, refueled, and after the onset of summer weather they flew through their bases.
The light from the flame was sometimes so strong that the glow was visible from the Dutch coast.
The fuel was in tanks at the edge of the airfield, buried or protected by brickwork.
Fuel consumption was enormous - 450 cubic meters per hour per strip of medium length. The system served 20 people.
Pumping:
In total from 1943 to 1945 in Britain, using FIDO, 2486 aircraft successfully landed, 79 of them with visibility less than 100 meters. Americans also used this system in the Aleutian Islands.
The cost of one aircraft landing in the fog was 625-1500 pounds , estimated by the British, or $ 4,000-5,000 by Americans.
There have been attempts to post-war the system, in particular, at Heathrow Airport. Later there were experiments in Paris Orly and Beijing Nanyuan with the installation of jet engines along the strip for the same purposes. But either it turned out to be too expensive, or there were fewer fogs, and maybe the automation "pulled itself up", but the system did not take root in civilian life.
The film of 1946 with the signature stamp “Secret” with a device of the system, aerial views, etc. (English):
The plane that took off during the war on the bombing of Germany in good weather, on his return could get into such a fog, which is not visible landing strip.
According to the instructions, the pilot in this case should direct the plane towards the sea, and he himself and the crew should jump on parachutes. This led to significant non-combat aircraft losses.
In 1942, the British came up with FIDO - a fire system for dispersing fog:
The device for dispersing fog consisted of three pipes laid on both sides of the runway. Two lay on the ground, the top was located above them; holes were made in the lower tubes.
')
Fuel was injected into the upper pipeline, which flowed into the lower pipes and beat up in streams through the holes. Electrically or manually the jet was set on fire, the upper pipe warmed up, the fuel in it evaporated and the system went to the operating mode: not gas, but gasoline vapors forming torches 60-180 cm high hit the holes.
The heat from the flame evaporated droplets of mist, and it dissipated.
When the system warmed up, the black smoke disappeared and a relatively clear flame remained.
Before and after switching on the system (after 9 minutes):
Using the system for different wind directions:
After the first night test landing, the pilot said that he felt like a circus lion, which needs to jump into a burning hoop. There was a slight turbulence from the hot air, but it did not cause any problems.
The system received its baptism of fire on the night of November 19, 1943 in the town of Fiskerton, when in 10 minutes it improved visibility in the fog from 100 yards to 2-4 miles. Landings that night were accompanied by comments from pilots like "It seemed we were going down to hell, but in the end it turned out not so bad."
From this day until the end of 1943, 39 successful landings in the fog were made at Fiskerton. In the spring of 1944, eight British airfields were equipped with FIDO, seven more were in process. In case of heavy fog, the returning bombers boarded the runway with FIDO, refueled, and after the onset of summer weather they flew through their bases.
The light from the flame was sometimes so strong that the glow was visible from the Dutch coast.
The fuel was in tanks at the edge of the airfield, buried or protected by brickwork.
Fuel consumption was enormous - 450 cubic meters per hour per strip of medium length. The system served 20 people.
Pumping:
In total from 1943 to 1945 in Britain, using FIDO, 2486 aircraft successfully landed, 79 of them with visibility less than 100 meters. Americans also used this system in the Aleutian Islands.
The cost of one aircraft landing in the fog was 625-1500 pounds , estimated by the British, or $ 4,000-5,000 by Americans.
There have been attempts to post-war the system, in particular, at Heathrow Airport. Later there were experiments in Paris Orly and Beijing Nanyuan with the installation of jet engines along the strip for the same purposes. But either it turned out to be too expensive, or there were fewer fogs, and maybe the automation "pulled itself up", but the system did not take root in civilian life.
The film of 1946 with the signature stamp “Secret” with a device of the system, aerial views, etc. (English):
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/391039/
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