From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter from Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd regarding the quality of Aviation fuel supplied under Air Board Specification D.T.D.134.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27a\4\ Scan033 | |
| Date | 2nd December 1932 | |
| COPY From: SHELL-MEX AND B.P. LTD LONDON 2nd December 1932 Messrs. Rolls-Royce Ltd., DERBY Dear Sirs, Motor Fuel to Air Board Specification D.T.D.134 With reference to your letters of November 23rd and 30th, we very much regret to note - especially after your interview with the writer on October 12th - that you still have doubts as to the consistency of the quality of our Aviation fuel supplied under the above Specification. We propose to deal with this matter under separate heads, (a) Investigations carried out by the Air Ministry August-October 1932, (b) your suggestion that experience on your Test Beds shows a marked variation in our deliveries. (a) It is now common knowledge that the Air Ministry suggested in August last that our deliveries did not conform to the knock-rating standards set up by their D.T.D.134 Specification - and that we for our part insisted that our fuel had not varied in this respect since it was originally accepted by the Ministry in 1929, when they formulated the present D.T.D.134 Specification. Our engine and laboratory test records all showed that our contention was correct and we accordingly suggested that the Air Ministry engine tests must have become severer than those originally laid down; we did not at any time suggest that our fuel had the anti-knock value they are demanding today, despite the fact that the Ministry themselves frequently showed samples passed their engine tests at Kidbrooke. (Continued) | ||