100 octane low lead fule and pearl harbor

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Kakugo replied on Tue, Dec 20 2011 4:57 AM

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Suggested by Marissa

Truth to be told 100 octane fuel was a pretty "niche" commodity since its main use was in high performance aircraft engines. High performance Allied engines (Rolls-Royce Merlin, Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp, Bristol Centaurus, Napier Sabre etc) all made good use of this fuel. Axis engines usually run on inferior grade fuel. Adolf Galland, the famous German ace who took over the Fighter Command after the death of Werner Moelders, was perfectly aware of the advantages of running this fuel and lobbied long and hard for it to become Luftwaffe standard issue. But Germany, despite a first class petrochemical industry, simply lacked the resources to refine it in quantity: resources were already strained to the breaking point and, much more critically, Germany lacked access to a large supply of low-sulfur, sweet crude needed to produce it economically. The oil fields in Ploesti were the main source of this strategic material and soon became prime targets for the USAAF and RAF.

The US, instead, had ready access to huge reserves of this type of crude and produced 100 octane fuel in enormous quantities for use by both themselves and their allies.

Japan didn't need just 100 octane fuel. It needed crude, period. Most of their pre-War supplies came from the US and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). As soon as the US government became less willing to export crude to Japan and The Netherlands became much less amenable (mostly because they rightly feared Japanese imperialism), Japan started to gear up to secure resources in Asia.

In yet another twist of fate it should be remembered Japan in the '20s and '30s was a prime market for US manufacturers. Japan was Harley-Davidson most important export market and the Japanese even bought the whole VL1200 assembly line. This bike was produced in quantity as the Type 97 for the Japanese armed forces... Japanese soldiers rode H-D's, just like the GI's. The feared Zero navy fighter used a Nakajima-built Pratt & Whitney engine (so much early batches had the P&W motto "Dependable Engines" on casings) and an Hamilton Standard propelled built under license by Sumitomo.

This decisions (selling military supplies to a potential enemy) may sound incomprehensible today but it must be remembered the West didn't think much of the Japanese. When the Zero appeared over China, blasting American and Russian built fighters out of the sky with frightening ease, Claude Chennault (then working as an advisor to the Chinese military) sent detailed reports to Washington. They were ignored by the Pentagon because they put down the problem to badly trained Chinese pilots. No way the Japanese can build a first-class fighter and train their pilots so well! When the Zero started to wipe the floor with US, British and Dutch fighters, they were taken completely by surprise and again chauvinism blinded military leaders: the Zero is a copy of a Western design, probably the Curtiss 75 series. Of course they forgot Curtiss 75 were being destroyed with amazing ease by the Zero and they were not very good kites to begin with...

The Zero was one of the main reasons Japan decided to go at war with the West. Japanese historians have shown the Imperial Cabinet was not "committed" to all-out war as thought. Main concern was Japan simply lacked the means to sustain a drawn-out conflict, as she lacked domestic sources of raw materials and her military industry was rag-tag assembly, ranging from the superlative to the pathetic. Without the Zero Japanese military leaders would have been much more reluctant to declare war, as it was seen as a vital instrument to a quick campaign to deliver knock-out blows to force the US and their allies to the negotiating table. Japanese leaders felt Eastern Asia would be seen as a "side show" to the main conflict in Europe and the Allies would lack the resources to wage war on two fronts. And they were of course wrong.