The Nickel Bulletin Vol 4, Jan 1931 describes the British patent granted to F Krupp AG for “Titanium and Vanadium additions to Nickel Chromium Steels for the Prevention of Weld Decay.” So it seem this alloy technology was developed by Krupps in Germany and would made its way out into the world via licencing to other firms and nations. No doubt German aircraft exhaust metallurgy would reflect this, but I have to find some old pieces of Luftwaffe exhaust to test this.

Out of curiosity the 1925 Department of Mines Bulletin from New South Wales, Australia, describes Chromium, Cobalt, Nickel Titanium and other mineral deposits, with Rutile being a natural oxide of Titanium. So certainly by 1925 there is interest in this material. The Bulletin describes Nickel as being an ‘important alloy in aircraft steels’, so the Australian prospector was not naive in 1925. Today Australia supplies about 40% of the world’s rutile, sourced from sand mining. So keep an eye on who buys up the all sand mining companies, when commodity markets are down….