The Blanco Story

So, why the mystery? Why so many unanswered questions?

It is a little baffling to find that a product so ubiquitous, utilitarian and long-lived as webbing cleaner should hold so many secrets. Millions of soldiers used Blanco as a matter of course and the product was in use by the British Army for 80 years or so. Surely it must be documented comprehensively and completely somewhere, one would have thought.

And yet it is not of course.

However, it is probably for the very reason that it was such a mundane, workaday product that no one even considered it worthwhile keeping records, even perfunctory ones. Add to that the manufacturer’s misfortunes with floods, moving of premises and eventual closing of the company and the problem is compounded.

Still, the answers are probably still out there, somewhere. It is the reason behind this website – the gathering of snippets here and there, some of their own of no consequence but when fitted into the jigsaw puzzle complete pictures emerge. There are a thousand and one answers still to be found, many of them fundamental but unknown – such as when exactly was KG3 introduced or was RAF Blue-Grey Blanco used in WW2?

This website’s author isn’t the oracle of all things Blanco, merely a curator of knowledge presenting what IS known in an accessible form. Therefore readers contributions are encouraged and greatly appreciated – whether it reinforces known facts, sheds new light or just compounds the mystery, all information is welcome!

Written by David Pratt