Ignition del ay times were measured for gas-phase jet fuel (Jet-A and JP-8) in air behind reflected shock waves in a heated high-pressure shock tube. Initial reflected shock conditions were as follows: temperatures of 715-1229 K, pressures of 17-51 atm, equivalence ratios of 0.5 and 1, and oxygen concentrations of 10 and 21% in synthetic air. Ignition delay times were measured using sidewall pressure and OH* emission at 306 nm. Longer ignition delay times at low temperatures (715-850 K) were accessed by utilizing driver-gas tailoring methods. Also presented is a review of previous ignition delay time measurements of kerosene-based fuels and recent work on surrogate fuel and kinetic mechanism development. To our knowledge, we report the first gas-phase shock tube ignition delay time data for JP-8, and our measurements for Jet-A are for a broader range of conditions than previously available. Our results have very low scatter and are in excellent agreement with the limited previous shock tube data for Jet-A. Although JP-8 and Jet-A have slightly different compositions, their ignition delay times are very similar. A simple 1/P dependence was found for ignition delay times from 874 to 1220 K for the pressure range studied for both fuels. ignition delay time variations with equivalence ratio and oxygen concentration were also investigated. The new experimental results were compared with predictions of several kinetic mechanisms, using different jet fuel surrogate mixtures. (c) 2007 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.