{"id":22556726,"date":"2026-09-15T16:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fido-fog-dispersal-burning-petrol-raf-runways\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T16:30:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:30:52","slug":"fido-fog-dispersal-burning-petrol-raf-runways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fido-fog-dispersal-burning-petrol-raf-runways\/","title":{"rendered":"FIDO: How Britain Burned the Fog Off Its Runways"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>On the night of 16 December 1943, Bomber Command came home to an England that had disappeared. Radiation fog had closed almost every airfield in the east. Crews who had survived Berlin circled above a white nothing until their tanks ran dry. At RAF Bourn alone, twenty-eight men died that night, within sight of home, in aircraft that were undamaged.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>There was a system that could have saved most of them. On that night, only three airfields in Britain had it, because it worked by setting the fog on fire.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#1a1a1a\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Name:<\/strong> FIDO, rendered variously as Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation and as Fog Intensive Dispersal Of<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>What it did:<\/strong> Burned petrol in pipelines along both sides of a runway to evaporate fog and open a landing corridor<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Ordered by:<\/strong> Winston Churchill, who in 1942 tasked the Petroleum Warfare Department with solving the fog problem<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>First trial:<\/strong> Moody Down, Hampshire, 4 November 1942. Cleared 200 yards of dense fog to about 80 feet<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>First operational use:<\/strong> RAF Graveley, night of 19 November 1943, four returning Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Installations:<\/strong> 15 RAF airfields in Britain, plus five overseas sites in France and the United States<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Fuel burn:<\/strong> Around 100,000 imperial gallons an hour, and reportedly more than double that at long-runway airfields<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Claimed result:<\/strong> Roughly 2,500 aircraft landed safely, a figure widely repeated though difficult to trace to a primary source<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Fog was killing more men than the Germans<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The official Bomber Command statement released after the war put the problem plainly. Blind-approach radio beams could get a pilot down to within a hundred or two hundred feet of the runway. After that he was still flying blind at over a hundred miles an hour, with every prospect of killing himself and his crew, because he could not see to land.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The electrical beam could help the pilots to approach to within 100 or 200 feet of the runway but they were then still flying absolutely blind at over 100 miles an hour with the imminent danger of crashing the aircraft, and killing themselves and all their crew, because they could not actually see to land.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Official Bomber Command statement<\/strong> &mdash; Issued after the war, when the secrecy requirement on FIDO lapsed<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The same statement contained the line that has followed FIDO ever since: that fog over British airfields had become more of a menace than flak over Germany. It is worth noting that the published version carries editorial brackets around part of that phrase, so treat it as very nearly rather than exactly the official wording.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>In 1942 Churchill ordered the Petroleum Warfare Department &mdash; an organisation whose usual business was burning things deliberately &mdash; to find an answer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fido-fuel-pumps-raf-graveley-1945.jpg\" alt=\"Fuel pumps installed at RAF Graveley to supply the FIDO burners\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The pumps at Graveley that fed the burner lines, photographed in May 1945. The airfield held half a million gallons of petrol for the system. Photo: IWM CH 15275, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">How you burn a fog away<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Two pipelines ran the length of the runway, one along each side, fed from tanks at the airfield boundary. Petrol was pumped out through burner jets set at intervals along the pipes and ignited, producing two walls of flame. The heat warmed the air enough to evaporate the suspended water droplets, opening a clear corridor over the runway &mdash; and, usefully, the flames themselves marked the runway edges.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Ignition was as agricultural as it sounds. At most installations a Jeep with a flaming brand lashed to the back was driven fast down both sides of the runway. At Graveley, according to No. 35 Squadron&rsquo;s own account, a man lit the first burner by hand and then ran for his life as the line went up with a whoosh.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The first full-scale test at Graveley in January 1943 brought out most of the fire brigades within a fifty-mile radius, all of them convinced the airfield was ablaze. The squadron history notes that the mess was cleared of beer in record time afterwards.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VH2HmFPBQYQ\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">British Path&eacute;&rsquo;s 1945 newsreel, showing the burners lit and aircraft landing between the walls of flame.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Who thought of it<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>This is less settled than you might expect. Arthur Clifford Hartley, chief engineer of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, is credited in almost every secondary account and holds a FIDO patent granted in 1949. But Wikipedia records that the invention is formally attributed to Dr John David Main-Smith, principal scientific officer in the chemistry department at Farnborough, on the strength of a post-war Air Ministry letter held privately by his son. Both names deserve to be in the story; neither can be presented as the sole answer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The development work was done at the University of Birmingham&rsquo;s department of chemical engineering, and the installation engineering was worked out at Hartford Bridge Flats, later Blackbushe.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Flying between the flames<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett, who commanded the Pathfinder Force, made the first landing with the burners lit. He was not a man given to poetic description, which makes his account of it more enjoyable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I took a Lancaster myself from Oakington over to Graveley one night, and did the first landing with FIDO burning. I had vague thoughts of seeing lions just through a hoop of flame at the circus. The glare was certainly considerable, and there was some turbulence, but it was nothing to worry about.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Air Vice-Marshal D. C. T. Bennett<\/strong> &mdash; Air Officer Commanding, No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group, in his memoir Pathfinder<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Accounts differ on the date and the aircraft: Bennett says a Lancaster, and dates it to January 1943, while No. 35 Squadron&rsquo;s archive puts it on 18 February 1943 in a Stirling. His own memoir is probably the better guide to what he was flying.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The night that mattered came later. On 19 November 1943 four Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron came back from operations to find Graveley under radiation fog, visibility down to a hundred yards at fifty feet. FIDO was lit. Within ten minutes the burners had opened a lane along the runway in which effective visibility was two to four miles, and all four landed without difficulty. Their captains were Flight Lieutenant Muller, Flight Lieutenant Rowe, Flying Officer Jones and Lieutenant Hoverstad.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It was the first time aircraft returning from a raid had landed in artificially dispersed fog. The Minister of Petroleum Warfare signalled Churchill, who was abroad, and Churchill sent his congratulations to all concerned.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fido-in-operation-alan-sorrell-iwm-painting.jpg\" alt=\"Alan Sorrell&rsquo;s wartime painting FIDO in Operation\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Alan Sorrell&rsquo;s war-art depiction of FIDO. The Pathfinder archive drily describes it as a pretty, and pretty optimistic, view of the system. Image: IWM ART LD 5593, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The arithmetic of setting fuel on fire<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>FIDO consumed something in the order of 100,000 imperial gallons of petrol per hour of operation &mdash; roughly 455,000 litres &mdash; and at airfields with long runways such as Carnaby, sources suggest more than double that. Graveley held half a million gallons in reserve for it. Every use had to be reported to the Air Minister because of the expense.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Against that, the usual claim is that around 2,500 aircraft landed safely using FIDO between 1943 and 1945, saving some 10,000 aircrew. Those numbers are repeated by Shell and the RAF Museum but are hard to trace to a primary document, and Main-Smith&rsquo;s family put the figure of men saved nearer 11,000. What is firmly documented is smaller and more convincing: 183 aircraft landed or took off at Graveley alone in fog or very poor visibility.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Coverage was always thin. Fifteen British airfields had it by the end, but as late as December 1943 only three were operational &mdash; which is precisely why Black Thursday cost what it did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why it went away<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Three things killed FIDO, and only one of them was cost.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The first was that no civil operator could justify burning a hundred thousand gallons of petrol to land an airliner. The second was that instrument landing systems and proper runway lighting arrived and did the same job without the pyrotechnics. The third is the one people forget: the fog itself went away. The Clean Air Act of 1956, passed after the London smog of 1952, removed the dense industrial pea-soupers that FIDO had been designed to beat. As Main-Smith&rsquo;s son put it, it is difficult for a modern reader to grasp what wartime British fogs were like &mdash; it was not uncommon to be unable to see your own outstretched hand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>RAF Manston kept an installation available for emergencies as late as 1952. Heathrow had a FIDO system designed and the trenches dug along Runway 1, but the pipes were never laid.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It remains one of the least elegant and most effective ideas of the war: confronted with weather that could not be flown through, Britain simply set fire to it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IHj0FOkcE94\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin-top:-10px\">British Path&eacute;&rsquo;s archive of wartime aviation film. Contains contemporary newsreel footage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m0zPmpjGrXA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was FIDO?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">FIDO was a British wartime system for clearing fog from runways by burning petrol. Pipelines ran along both sides of the runway with burner jets at intervals; when lit, the heat evaporated the suspended fog droplets and opened a clear corridor, while the flames also marked the runway edges. The acronym is rendered both as Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation and as Fog Intensive Dispersal Of.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who invented FIDO?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">It is genuinely contested. Arthur Clifford Hartley, chief engineer of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, is credited in most accounts and held a FIDO patent granted in 1949. Wikipedia records that the invention is formally attributed to Dr John David Main-Smith of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, on the basis of a post-war Air Ministry letter held privately by his family. Development work was carried out at the University of Birmingham.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did Churchill order FIDO?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes, according to Shell&rsquo;s aviation history and the RAF Museum, Churchill instructed the Petroleum Warfare Department in 1942 to develop a means of dispersing fog from RAF airfields. After the first successful operational use in November 1943, the Minister of Petroleum Warfare signalled Churchill, who was abroad, and Churchill sent his congratulations.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How much fuel did FIDO burn?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Roughly 100,000 imperial gallons an hour, about 455,000 litres, with some sources suggesting more than double that at airfields with long runways. RAF Graveley kept half a million gallons in reserve for the system, and every use had to be reported to the Air Minister because of the expense.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When was FIDO first used operationally?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On the night of 19 November 1943 at RAF Graveley, when four Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron returning from operations found the airfield fogged in with visibility down to a hundred yards. Within ten minutes of lighting the burners, effective visibility along the runway was two to four miles and all four landed safely. It was the first time aircraft returning from a raid had landed in artificially dispersed fog.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many aircraft were saved by FIDO?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The figure usually quoted is around 2,500 aircraft landed and 10,000 aircrew saved between 1943 and 1945, though this is hard to trace to a primary source and Wikipedia&rsquo;s own article gives no total. A firmly documented smaller figure is 183 aircraft landed or taken off at RAF Graveley alone in fog or very poor visibility.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why was FIDO abandoned after the war?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Three reasons. The fuel consumption was impossible to justify for civil aviation; instrument landing systems and improved runway lighting achieved the same result far more cheaply; and the Clean Air Act of 1956 largely eliminated the dense industrial fogs that FIDO had been built to defeat. RAF Manston kept an installation on standby as late as 1952.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was FIDO?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"FIDO was a British wartime system for clearing fog from runways by burning petrol. Pipelines ran along both sides of the runway with burner jets at intervals; when lit, the heat evaporated the suspended fog droplets and opened a clear corridor, while the flames also marked the runway edges. The acronym is rendered both as Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation and as Fog Intensive Dispersal Of.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who invented FIDO?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It is genuinely contested. Arthur Clifford Hartley, chief engineer of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, is credited in most accounts and held a FIDO patent granted in 1949. Wikipedia records that the invention is formally attributed to Dr John David Main-Smith of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, on the basis of a post-war Air Ministry letter held privately by his family. Development work was carried out at the University of Birmingham.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Churchill order FIDO?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes, according to Shell\u2019s aviation history and the RAF Museum, Churchill instructed the Petroleum Warfare Department in 1942 to develop a means of dispersing fog from RAF airfields. After the first successful operational use in November 1943, the Minister of Petroleum Warfare signalled Churchill, who was abroad, and Churchill sent his congratulations.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How much fuel did FIDO burn?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Roughly 100,000 imperial gallons an hour, about 455,000 litres, with some sources suggesting more than double that at airfields with long runways. RAF Graveley kept half a million gallons in reserve for the system, and every use had to be reported to the Air Minister because of the expense.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When was FIDO first used operationally?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On the night of 19 November 1943 at RAF Graveley, when four Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron returning from operations found the airfield fogged in with visibility down to a hundred yards. Within ten minutes of lighting the burners, effective visibility along the runway was two to four miles and all four landed safely. It was the first time aircraft returning from a raid had landed in artificially dispersed fog.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many aircraft were saved by FIDO?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The figure usually quoted is around 2,500 aircraft landed and 10,000 aircrew saved between 1943 and 1945, though this is hard to trace to a primary source and Wikipedia\u2019s own article gives no total. A firmly documented smaller figure is 183 aircraft landed or taken off at RAF Graveley alone in fog or very poor visibility.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was FIDO abandoned after the war?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Three reasons. The fuel consumption was impossible to justify for civil aviation; instrument landing systems and improved runway lighting achieved the same result far more cheaply; and the Clean Air Act of 1956 largely eliminated the dense industrial fogs that FIDO had been built to defeat. RAF Manston kept an installation on standby as late as 1952.\"}}]}<\/script><p><em>Sources: Imperial War Museum; RAF Museum; Shell aviation history; RAF Pathfinders Archive; No. 35 Squadron association records; D. C. T. Bennett, Pathfinder; British Path&eacute;.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/raf-pathfinder-force-no-8-group-target-marking\/\">The Pathfinders: Marking the Target<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-autoland-cat-iii-landing-blind-works\/\">How Autoland Lands an Airliner Blind<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-thursday-broadway-glider-landing-burma-1944\/\">Operation Thursday: The Night Gliders Landed in Burma<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Confronted with fog that was killing more bomber crews than German flak, Britain ran petrol pipelines down both sides of its runways and set the weather on fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":22556173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22556726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FIDO: How Britain Burned the Fog Off Its Runways | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FIDO fog dispersal burned 100,000 gallons of petrol an hour to clear RAF runways, and brought thousands of bomber crews home who would otherwise have died.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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