Page 147 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

The futurist Arthur C. Clarke once witnessed a FIDo test in Cornwall:

The runway was lined on either side with a double row of pipes—four or five
miles in all—which conveyed gasoline to long rows of burners. When they were
in action, they consumed fuel at the awesome rate of 100,000 gallons an hour and
formed multiple walls of flame the full length of the runway.
At night, with the fog rolling in from the Atlantic, a FIDo operation was like
a scene from Dante’s Inferno. The roar of the flames made speech difficult; such
an updraft was created that small stones on the edge of the runway were picked up
and tossed around by the air currents. The yellow walls of fire, taller than a man,
stretched away into the foggy night as far as the eye could see. The miles of burners
pumped heat into the air at the rate of 10 million horsepower, cutting a long, nar-
row trench through the fog down which the retuning bombers found their way to
the ground.
I have known nights when the fog was so thick that visibility was less than ten
feet; but standing in the middle of the runway, with the flames roaring on either
side, you could see the stars shining overhead. FIDo worked by brute force, and
the development of radar made it obsolete, but it did show what could be done if
the incentive was sufficiently great. 46

The view from the cockpit was especially exhilarating. Although airmen were
thankful for the safety that FIDo provided, they described their first experiences
of landing between FIDo burners as frightening. one veteran pilot, echoing
Clarke’s description, likened it to a descent into hell, remarking that it seemed as
if he “was over [the enemy] target once more . . . [and] that the whole place must
have caught on fire.” 47

fido becomes operational

FIDo actually worked. It allowed British and Allied aircraft to take off
and land in conditions of poor visibility when the Germans were grounded
(figure 4.6). The urgency that Churchill demanded had been met, and FIDo
was quickly serving the duty of guiding RAF and Allied airmen home safely.
Pilots returning to foggy England after a mission could see the airfield glow-
ing in the distance, beckoning them home to a lighted, fog-free airport. They
could also save valuable time getting their shot-up planes and exhausted
(and possibly wounded) crews on the ground. Because of FIDo, the Allies
could launch patrols and air raids and return their planes safely when enemy

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