If you look you still have oil production going on in the Middle East per the RDF as was stated earlier (enough that there is some left to be exported but not much) that can support not only a very decent sized US and Soviet air presence there but also a French one - one that is big enough that even by mid 2001 (Kings Ransom) there are still lots of air units and air activity going on.
Ditto in Med Cruise - there are still Soviet Air units operating in Romania because of Ploesti.
You also have the refinery working in Kenya per Frank Frey (his unfinished module Lions in Twilight) as well as refineries and oil fields producing still in the US (Howling Wilderness and mentioned in the basic game guide - i.e. 60% of US refining and production capability is gone, which leaves approxiamately 40% still available but not necessarily in production) or ones that can be put back into production (Red Star, Lone Star)
Add in whats left in Australia, Argentina, etc.. and you have a lot of oil left still considering how few operational aircraft and tanks there still are compared to 1996. Its not yet Mad Max where there is almost nothing left. The real problem is getting it where its needed and getting spare parts made to keep the refineries you have left still going.
and that is mentioned in the RDF - i.e. the number of ships that can transport oil has been reduced significantly - and in Howling Wilderness - i.e. the reduced production cited at at least one US refinery still working
Oh by the way - the Japanese were using alternative fuels to operate prop planes at the end of WWII when their oil was getting cut off - there was a reduction in performance and range - but they could still operate as combat aircraft
I am not sure if any of the people who wrote the GDW modules were engineers or had a technical background - but their assertion that you cant fly aircraft except with avgas wasnt technically correct. You can do it - but most likely at a penalty versus the kind of performance you got from avgas or jet fuel i.e. you wont get the combat radius, speed and payload you would get with regular aircraft fuels.
So can you get that old P-51 off the ground with alternative fuels - sure but probably not with anything like a full weapons load or range or speed. Still its better than nothing.
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