Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)

Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) (which was sometimes referred to as "Fog Intense Dispersal Operation" or "Fog, Intense Dispersal Of") was a system used for dispersing fog and pea soup fog (dense smog) from an airfield so that aircraft could land safely. The device was developed by Arthur Hartley for British RAF bomber stations, allowing the landing of aircraft returning from raids over Germany in poor visibility by burning fuel in rows on either side of the runway.

The FIDO system was developed at the department of chemical engineering of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, during the Second World War. The invention of FIDO is formally attributed to Dr John David Main-Smith, an ex-Birmingham resident & Principal Scientific Officer of the Chemistry Dept of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, Hants, and as a courtesy the joint-patent (595,907) held by the Ministry of Supply was shared by the department head Dr Ramsbottom as was normal practice at that date. This formal government recognition is enshrined in an Air Ministry postwar letter to the late inventor's late widow and held by the son Bruce Main-Smith (February 2008). It also deals with the lesser role of those developing support equipment, notably the FIDO burner.

"It is my memory", writes B Main-Smith, "that much of the airfield installation was pioneered at Hartford Bridge Flats airfield (aka Blackbushe near Yateley, Surrey [sic]) a convenient few miles from the RAE's Farnborough aerodrome." Though JD Main-Smith co-owned the FIDO patent, no royalties accrued from any UK civilian usage after World War II as there was none, it being too petrol-hungry. At an attempt to quantify the saving of aircrew life, B Main-Smith suggests possibly 11,000 airmen but not all would be fit to fly again....

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