Wyoming History: How Two Oil Refineries Fueled U.S. WWII Aviation Dominance

During World War II, thousands of U.S. Army airmen perfected their flying and aircrew skills at Casper Army Air Base.

But the state was more than a training region for pilots and crews, its oil fields and refineries became important resources for the war effort and in the last year of the war contributed to the nation’s air superiority over the Axis powers thanks to refineries that produced aviation fuel.

“Get ready Hitler, here comes more hell from Wyoming!” a Frontier Refining Company ad proclaimed in the July 27, 1943, Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “Frontier 100-Octane gasoline for Uncle Sam’s Flying Forces Ready Soon.”

A separate article in the paper informed readers that the new Cheyenne Frontier plant “will produce thousands of gallons of 100-octane gasoline daily, enough to sustain a large squadron of Uncle Sam’s mightiest bombers and fighter planes for flights of devastation.”

In addition to Frontier’s plant, Sinclair Oil that same year was adding 100-octane fuel capability at its Parco Refinery in Sinclair, Wyoming.

“Before long all new units of the enlarged refinery will be running full blast, producing enough 100-octane gasoline weekly to fuel nearly 1,000 bombers on a mission from England to Berlin and return,” the company declared in a March 12, 1944, ad in the Casper Tribune-Herald.

Both facilities required special approval from the federal government.

And during the war, Wyoming’s congressional delegation worked to promote the state’s abilities and resources to bring more opportunities to their constituents.

U.S. Senator Joseph O’Mahoney reported in the July 27, 1943, edition of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that his and other’s efforts led to revising federal oil royalties in December 1942 to a flat 12 1/2% for new oil discoveries on public lands. He said that state oil companies in the “past year” developed “at least 80 million barrels of new oil reserve” in the state.

He congratulated Frontier and Sinclair on their efforts to complete their 100-octane plants.

“I have urged and am still urging the installation of a third high-octane plant in the vicinity of Casper,” he said.

An earlier article on Sept. 28, 1941, in the Casper Tribune-Herald before the U.S. entry into the war had Wyoming’s other U.S. Sen. Harry Schwartz lobbying President Franklin Roosevelt’s defense oil coordinator Harold Ickes to choose Wyoming sites for the high-octane plants.

The administration planned to invest $150 million in building 50 additional refineries for aviation fuel in an effort to boost production from 40,000 barrels to 120,000 barrels a day.

Fueling A Victory

Historian and author Richard Dunn, who calls the Washington, D.C., area his home, said the United States during World War II, totally outproduced all other nations when it came to drilling and pumping oil and making its products effective for a victory.

“America blew away the rest of the world as far as petroleum production is concerned,” he said. “The next highest nation was the Soviet Union and they were at 15 percent of what the United States was producing and it went down from there.”

And the 100-octane fuel story played a huge role in aviation domination for America and its allies.

What became clear as the initial chapters of the war unfolded was the need to produce more 100-octane fuel. Before the war, standard airplane fuel typically had a 70 - 80 octane rating and car fuel rated around 40 octane, Dunn said.

The lower octane fuel created more detonation of fuel that resulted in engine “knock” rather than appropriate combustion fired by the spark plug.

Dunn, who has written about the importance of the fuel during the 1940 Battle of Britain, said the British a few years before the war had been urged by an expert to adapt their fighters to 100-octane fuel.

The British tested engines and planes with the fuel and in 1939 started stockpiling it from the U.S. Their fighter fleets were modified just before the battle took place.

Dunn said German fighters during the 1940 battle did not use 100-octane fuel and British planes outperformed them.

Doolittle’s Foresight

Britain’s ability to have that fuel can be traced to the efforts of famed aviator and military pilot Jimmy Doolittle.

A decade before gaining fame leading a squadron of B-25 bombers on a raid over Japan, in April 1942, Doolittle was working for Shell Oil and still flew in the U.S. Army Air Corps on reserve status. He also had attained a doctorate degree in aviation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology — the first such degree.

Leading Shell Oil’s aviation unit and racing airplanes that used the expensive and limited-production 100-octane fuel, Dunn said Doolittle convinced Shell to pursue techniques to isolate and produce the high-powered fuel more cheaply because he foresaw the market for it for both military and commercial aviation purposes.

During the 1930s, additional oil companies worked to develop technology to turn the crude into high-octane gasoline.  

In 1937, 100-octane fuel was made the standard for U.S. Air Corps combat planes.

The high-octane fuel production actually created its own market, because when aircraft engine manufacturers saw its availability, they redesigned engines to take advantage of the greater manifold pressure and power the high-octane fuel could generate, Dunn said.

Dunn said when the war did break out, the U.S. was positioned to outperform all the other nations in terms of producing the fuel.

A front-page story in the Casper Herald-Tribune on Jan. 20, 1942, a month after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, had Schwartz, telling Casper locals that he hoped oil companies would work together to put a plant in the city.

“Superintendents and refinery experts here in Casper could do a good job at making 100-octane gasoline and would be delighted to do so if they had the extra necessary equipment and a green light to go ahead,” he said. “They do not control the green light.”

Wyoming historian Mike Mackey wrote in an essay in the book “Readings in Wyoming History” that the War Production Board that allocated raw materials for building a refinery addition would be among the agencies controlling the “green light.”

Frontier’s Contribution

And as president of the Frontier plant in Cheyenne, it was Maurice Robineau working with O’Mahoney who was able to get the approval for construction of the plant in May 1942 and the subsequent steel and materials designated a priority for its construction.

The new $5 million Frontier Refinery boasted 117 towers and vessels compared to six at the old plant and 50 miles of underground and overhead pipe.

A catalytic cracking unit was 132 feet high and another tower 140 feet.

The Cheyenne refinery blended its first 100-octane on June 2, 1944, and completed its final blend on June 29, the Casper Herald-Tribune reported on July 26, 1944. The Frontier plant had exceeded its production quota by 60% for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy aviation sections. 

The newspaper also reported that technicians were also at the plant from the Universal Oil Company in Chicago to determine what was needed to convert the facility from a “green” crude oil to a “black” crude oil supply.

“The changeover is being studied because available supplies of green oil are dwindling,” the newspaper reported.

A Casper Tribune-Herald article on the plant on March 12, 1944, quoted a U.S. Army Air Corps official as saying the 100-octane fuel meant life or death in combat.

“These planes will fly with 91-octane gasoline,” Col. August Peterka of the U.S. Army Air Corps Production Division told the paper. “But it would be foolhardy to do in combat. A carrier-borne plane at sea could not take off without 100-octane gasoline. It would simply plunge down into the sea for lack of power.”

The Cheyenne plant was totally dedicated to military production, and both the Cheyenne and Sinclair refineries supplied the military with the aviation fuel for more than a year.

With the surrender of Japan in August 1945, the plants had to prepare for a post-war economy. After the war in 1945, Frontier revved up marketing to take advantage of its high-powered fuel capability.

“During the war, Frontier technicians discovered how to make our new, post-war ethyl gasoline … while we were making high-octane aviation gasoline for war planes,” a Casper Herald-Tribune ad on Dec. 4, 1945, signed by Robineau read. “I challenge any refiner to make a better motor fuel than Frontier Ethyl for this rugged mountain territory.”

The Frontier facility today is owned by Sinclair. The refinery was converted to a facility to produce renewable diesel by former owner HollyFrontier and acquired by Sinclair in 2022 to form HF Sinclair. 

At the end of the war, Sinclair was telling motorists that it had converted the Parco facility to a “peace plant” to produce “power-packed” 100-octane gas for their car.

“In war and peace, you can rely on Sinclair for better petroleum products,” the company’s marketing machine extolled.

Sinclair still operates its Parco Refinery in Sinclair, Wyoming.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.