Is this FIDO related?

I have been sent this is the email and photo. Can anyone help?


An acquaintance of a friend has found the transformer shown in the attached photo. It was adjacent to a triple burner which he believes was part of a FIDO fog dispersal system and he thinks it was related to an ignition system.

According to Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_Investigation_and_Dispersal_Operation and this video - www.britishpathe.com/video/f-i-d-o - the burners were lit by hand, rather than automatically.

My friend is mainly interested in the electrical engineering aspect of this find. Have you ever seen anything similar and can you offer any suggestions as to its function and electrical specification?

I don’t know where the item was found, but I believe it was somewhere adjacent to a former runway.

Runway edge lighting of some types had a transformer beneath each lamp but those I have seen were in cast rectangular metal boxes with waterproof cable entries.

CARNABY will know.

REF wrote:

It was adjacent to a triple burner which he believes was part of a FIDO fog dispersal system and he thinks it was related to an ignition system.
I don’t know where the item was found, but I believe it was somewhere adjacent to a former runway.

As far as I'm aware the only airfields which MIGHT have had electric ignition were Blackbushe and Manston as these were upgraded after 1945. I suspect Manston was a strong contender; Blackbushe was abandoned by 1950.

The new 1950s installation at Marham did have electric ignition. However none of these airfields had the familiar wartime Haigill triangular burners as their upgrade

All the other WWII airfields were in the process of having 'auto ignition' installed in the form of paraffin-burning Dietz / Toledo torches by the end of the war


See also:
Knowing on which airfield this item was found would be a massive help - and why did it have 'triple burners' ?

My suspicion is it's likely to be airfield-lighting related as Peter suggested

I've just had a look at some 1956/7 TNA documents on the Marham FIDO The discussion was very much on the lines of current HS2 - i.e. let's stop this madness now!

MUST get on with my FIDO article!

Carnaby wrote:

As far as I'm aware the only airfields which MIGHT have had electric ignition were Blackbushe and Manston as these were upgraded after 1945. I suspect Manston was a strong contender; Blackbushe was abandoned by 1950. However none of these airfields had the familiar wartime Haigill triangular burners as their upgrade

I've had a look at TNA file T/166/12 which deals with Royal Commision on Awards to Inventors, re FIDO development.

It revealed that Blackbushe had its Hairpin Slot burners installed Oct-Dec 1944 and an experimental push-button ignition system was in use. Furthermore the triangular Haigill burners were left in place (certainly for a while).

Hence the device could have been used here. Blackbushe could well be its source. Williams' book confirms the electric ignition.

There is a report on the Blackbushe FIDO installation here: blackbusheairport.proboards.com/thread/8...persal-system?page=1.
Unfortunately much of the info has come from Wiki and is very inaccurate.