When I was at Oshkosh in 96 there was a guy from a university who was obviously pushing ethanol. He had an RV3 and was running it on pure ethanol. When I asked him about mixing fuel he was quick to point out it was pure ethanol he was running.
I can believe ethanol will increase the octane (resistance to explode).
Light a can of gas and WHOOSH.
Light a can of ethanol and you get a pretty light blue to clear flame.

How would one go about doing some real world testing?
Set an engine up on a stand, crank the timing up until it spark knocked and then try different fuels?
I haven't heard an engine (pinging) since the 70's, EFI engines won't allow it with their knock sensors.
I have never heard an airplane engine ping, not sure you would hear it over all the other noise.

Would be nice if someone with a test cell and dyno would try it and post the results here, the way EAA did when they were STC'ing auto fuel.
Probably never happen, impossible to keep the lawyers at bay!

There are numerous companies developing av fuels but from what I have read they are limited production and would never release their findings to a bunch of crazy experimenters. Besides, no money in finding a simple solution like adding a little two stroke oil?

Ray