‘Noteworthy, JP7 production caused a nationwide shortage of bug spray,’ says our friend Linda Sheffield Miller (
Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71
Reconnaissance Systems Officer) on her
Facebook Page Habubrats.
[...]
Sheffield Miller explains;
‘Shell Oil developed JP-7 in 1955. Company vice president Jimmy Doolittle arranged for Shell to develop the fuel for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and United States Air Force’s (USAF) secret Lockheed U-2 spy plane, which needed a low-volatility fuel that would not evaporate at high altitude. Manufacturing several hundred thousand gallons of the new fuel required the petroleum byproducts Shell normally used to make its Flit insecticide, causing a nationwide shortage of that product!
‘One of the ingredients in JP7 just so happened to be a crucial part of Flit mosquito repellant. Bearing in mind the huge amount of fuel we’re talking about here, Shell didn’t exactly have enough supply to meet the newly increased demand, so mosquitos everywhere caught a lucky break!’