#VEDay75: Fog of war: how gas helped bring 10,000 airmen and 2,500 aircraft home safely 

#veday75

Allied aircraft faced many hazards during the Second World War – and secret research pioneered by the gas industry helped to win the battle against one big danger presented by Mother Nature.

The Gas Light and Coke Company was the first to demonstrate, on a large scale, that fog could be cleared by the application of heat. Its research department and laboratories at Fulham undertook secret research for the Government, including assisting the Petroleum Warfare Department in building the final (petrol-fuelled) system, installed at airfields at home and on the Continent.

What came to be known as Fog Investigation Dispersal Operations – or FIDO to use its commonly used acronym – is said to have saved 10,000 airmen and 2,500 bombers.

We’ve worked with Professor Russell Thomas, chairman of the history panel of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers, to produce this special series of stories for #VEDay75.
Most of the images that will appear on these pages are reproduced with kind permission of the National Grid Gas Archive, Warrington.

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