Redex was added to the fuel of World War 2 planes to keep them flying for longer . These planes were marked with a characteristic Red X to give pilots extra confidence before flying.
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That’s a lovely story - I was speaking with someone the other week about Botswana, they fly gliders there, and they said it was a magical place, wildlife especially.
As a token effort to reply to the Redex question (I recognise elephants are something of a digression) - as long as I didn’t think it’d do any harm then I’d try some if I was curious, as it’s pretty cheap.
There’s also a write up on Car Expert, HERE, that (conveniently) looks at using Redex in a 2013 2.0 MX5. It’s sponsored by Redex, so may not be impartial, but probably worth a look.
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I have put premium fuels and additives in my cars, and NEVER noticed any change in performance or range. One car I had did 268k miles all on super market fuels. Save the money for a track day
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A pal of mine worked in a refinery.
Apparently there’s only 1000 liters of “super ingredients” in a 40,000 litre tanker 
Jason Plato did a video on YouTube where he took an old VW Corrado that lost horse power over the years. They dino’d the car before doing the remedial work and after to see what gains each bit did. It included oil change, new spark plugs and leads etc. The greatest gain in horsepower of all came from adding Redex and driving the car for a week before dinoing again.
Redex might have sponsored the show ( not sure ) but the proof was there for all to see.
Also as Maccy said, it’s well worth watching Jay Emm on Cars interview with petrolium expert. Very interesting about all fuel coming from the same distribution points and delivered by lorries to the for courts around the country. The exception is Shell’s top of the range petrol that has extra additives in.
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There are some very unbiased and unsponsored Youtube mechanics that are very quick to warn you about snake oil products that swear by things like redex. One example would be Scotty Kilmer, who has a video showing how it seems to clean up the performance of an aging vehicle.
I personally use V-power and I feel that helps a lot, but I will occasionally use redex to treat my cars, though I don’t really notice much of a change. Then again, is it enough just to stick it in 1 tank of petrol now and then, or should one run a few tanks at a time to actually feel its benefits?
Overall, I’d say it probably works, but isn’t essential. If you have a car that is notorious for fuel system problems and dodgy injectors then it’s a great idea; if you have a reliable runabout that doesn’t see performance use, then it’s probably pointless!
In the 1960s we used to use it as “Instant Decoke.”
This was in the days of dodgy fuel and sooted up engines.
However it did release gummed up piston rings, but not when running the engine.
First do a compression test to see just how bad it really was, it cannot fix a broken ring.
If it showed hints of promise, then the usual method was to squirt a teaspoon of it (or diesel) into each pot, turn the engine over by hand a couple of times and leave it to soak overnight. Next morning, turn it over slowly a few more times by hand and wait another day.
Be warned, cranking on the starter will throw redex out the plug holes and it goes absolutely everywhere.
Then came the fun bit.
First make sure the neighbours are away and the exhaust pipe faces out of the garage.
Then put on your gas mask, and fire up the engine for a minute or so, no more.
Then plugs out again and do the usual compression tests.
Sometimes it worked, but by no means always. However, it was always worth a try, for entertainment value if nothing else. And I cannot help smiling when remembering that French mechanic fixing the 2CV.
After all this talk of Redex I ended up going for Liqui Moly “Direct Injection Cleaner”
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Great posts.