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by ElevenLathe 1251 days ago
Castor oil was famously used as a lubricant in early WWI-era airplane engines. The fumes would blow in the pilot's face and are also a laxative.
1 comments

Haha that's amazing! Hopefully the pilots weren't too phased. Thanks for sharing

Did some further digging and it looks like it does have a tendency to gum. From wikipedia, "The viscosity of castor oil at 10 °C is 2,420 centipoise,[28] but it tends to form gums in a short time, so its usefulness is limited to engines that are regularly rebuilt, such as racing engines. Lubricant company Castrol took its name from castor oil."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil#Lubrication