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Brockhouse Fuel Bowser


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brockhouse.jpg

photo shows O854 AEC handling the fuel requirements for the Bombers and the smaller trailers are clearly labelled as "OIL". Are we sure they are fuel bowsers???

 

This wartime photo shows the MT commitment to get one bomber squadron out on an Op. Note differing patterns of drawbars on the trailers.

 

To take this one forward,

A nice picture of a Lancaster getting its fuel from an AEC O854 and its oil from a Brockhouse, at the same time.

LancAECBrockhouse.jpg

The Lancaster is one of the Hercules engined variants, not the more familiar Merlin powered model.

Edited by antarmike
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The bowser that I have waiting to restore, still has the pump in the back box and clearly has( petrol only) on the gauge so wheather this bowser started its life out as an oil bowser i dont know. Its seems to me to have a bowser like this just for oil is a bit on the large size or did they get through alot of oil.

 

 

I tried to upload a picture but the loading screen keeps going blank halfway through the upload,will try and work out the problem.

 

Howard

Edited by HWade
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The bowser that I have waiting to restore, still has the pump in the back box and clearly has( petrol only) on the gauge so wheather this bowser started its life out as an oil bowser i dont know. Its seems to me to have a bowser like this just for oil is a bit on the large size or did they get through a lot of Oil.

 

Howard

 

Oil Capacity / Specification: Each Merlin engine had its own oil tank in the nacelle with a capacity of 37.5 Imperial gallons (45.4 US gallons or 170.25 litres) for a total of 150 Imperial gallons (181.6 US gallons or 681 litres) per plane. Oil specification DED 2472 / B / O.

 

There were could be up to 20 lancasters flying per squadron, and some airfields were home to two squadrons at the same time.

 

That is potentially 20 x 4 x 37.5 gallons per squadron ie 3000 gallons of oil per squadron, or 6000 gallons for two squadrons.

 

To completely refil empty oil tanks for one squadron would take almost seven (7) 450 gallon bowsers.

 

or the other way around one bowser could refill just three Lancasters with empty oil tanks.

 

The picture I posted shows just three 450 gallon tankers to service one squadron, so they would not have been able to do so, without themselves being refilled (some of them more than once) part way through the operation.

__________________

Edited by antarmike
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Thanks for that, interesting stuff thats also alot of oil.I suppose the oil would have come into the airfields in tankers, and pumped from them to the bowsers, or did they have larger storage tanks somewhere on the airfield or nearby, and transfer from there.

 

 

Howard.

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Thanks for that, interesting stuff thats also alot of oil.I suppose the oil would have come into the airfields in tankers, and pumped from them to the bowsers, or did they have larger storage tanks somewhere on the airfield or nearby, and transfer from there.

 

 

Howard.

 

That I do not know.

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