Flame-throwers

Operator Firing a Portable Flame Thrower ElRl at a concnte fortification 

The ElRl was far from perfect—parts were easily broken, valves were hard to reach unless the operator was a contortionist, and the weapon made an uncomfortably heavy load on the operator s back—but the weapon held a range of 15 to 20 yards for 15 to 20 seconds and on the whole seemed suitable for use in special situations. Since the few that had been produced for the purpose of testing were the only practical American flame throwers in existence, the Army issued them to troops in training camps. Some troops actually carried these crude weapons overseas to the Pacific Islands and employed them in battle. Corporal Tirrell s assault on a Japanese bunker was made with one of these, an ElRl. 

The CWS in the meantime had been rushing an improved version of the ElRl through final development. Suggestions from test boards had led to a slightly heavier, more rugged, longer range model standardized 

The new flame thrower was employed for the first time on 15 January 1943 by marines and infantrymen on Guadalcanal. An infantry attack against a stubborn enemy pocket holding up the advance of the 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry, did not succeed. But Marine engineers burned out three Japanese bunkers in a ravine, and thus helped rout enemy troops holding up a Marine advance.  

Unfortunately, the Ml flame thrower could not get the greatest range out of the new thickened gasoline, for it was like running a 1910 model automobile on modern premium fuel. In August 1942 Col. William C. 

---

Dapalm The aluminium soap of naphthenic and palmitic acids used to gel gasoline. The thickened gasoline has been used for military flame throwers and incendiary bombs. See metallic soaps. 

Flame Throwers and Projectors. One advance ia flame throwers siace World War II was a mechanized flame thrower kit for a variety of armored vehicles other than the main battle tank. The multishot, lightweight, shoulder-fired, four-tube flame system capable of firing one to four flame rounds semiautomaticaHy is replacing the portable flame thrower. Indeed the mechanized flame thrower is expected to become obsolete because of the family of large-cahber flame rounds. 

Flammen-ofen, m. Flammofen. -hi, n. flame-thrower oil, -opal, m. fire opal, -rohr, n -rohre, /, = Flammrohr. -riickschlag, m. backfiring, striking back, flammensicher, a. flameproof. Flammen-spektrum, n. flame spectrum, -strahl, m. jet of flame, -werfer, m. flame projector, flame thrower. 

See also under Flame Throwers — Liquids and Gels in Vol 6, F57-L ff... 

The spontaneous flaming of WP in air can also be made more reliable when a eutectic mixt of 55% WP with 45% phosphorus sesquisulfide (P4S3) is formed. This material (mp 40°, d 1.84g/cc) was used in WWII in one-shot flame throwers designed to protect tanks against suicide attacks by infantry (El Antipersonnel Tank Protector) (Ref 4, p 27)... 

Flame-retardant silicone rubber, 22 584 Flame spray coatings, 5 665 Flame temperature, 12 322 Flame temperature, 7 443 Flame throwers, 5 824 Flame working, of vitreous silica, 22 415-416... 

M2-Forming process, 3 609 M17A2 gas mask, 5 832-833 M40 gas mask, 5 833 M41S materials, 26 847 M42 gas mask, 5 833 M202/M74 flame thrower, 5 824 M258A1 decontamination kit, personal, 5 836... 

NP Abbr for Napalm. Aluminum soap in powder form, used to gelatinize oil or gasoline for use in Napalm bombs or flame throwers. See also Ml, M2 Sc M4 thickeners... 

Incendiary Liquids and Gels. See under Incendiary Warfare and under Flame Thrower Liquids... 

CA 46, 1768 (1952). An easily combustible mixture suitable as fuel for incendiary bombs and grenades, flame throwers, etc. Consists of 7-14% volatile hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline, and 93 to 86% of soap-type gelling agent, which is composed of Al oleate 50-75, Al stearate 25-50, to which is added about 1% of oxy-aromatic antioxident compound... 

CA 53, 17513 (1959). Materials useful as rocket fuels, semisolid or gelled fuels for bursting and tail-ejection-type bombs, and incendiary fuels for flame throwers and hand grenades are described. They are made by mixing 0.1-25% by wt of satd, unsatd, or aromatic nitrohydrocarbons or their mixts, such as nitro- or dinitromethane, -ethane, -propane, or -butane with divinylated ketoses or diaryl deoxyketitols prepd by reaction of C3 g ketose sugars with C6 M aromatic hydrocarbons. The latter include CfiH, toluene, naphthalene, anthracene and their alkylated derivs... 

FLAME THROWERS (Flame Projectors) are devices for throwing a spray of combustible liquids, gels ot gas a considerable distance, with. the primary object of burning enemy personnel and sometimes of igniting easily inflammable material of the enemy... 

For composition of iiquids used in these and other projectors, see further under "Flame Throwers-Liquids ... 

The following may be given as examples of tank-type flame throwers ... 

Refs See below under Flame Throwers— Liquids and Gels... 

Because flammable liquid materials ate not convenient to handle, attempts were made to convert them into a solid state. During WWI solid oils had already been prepd by treating the petroleum distillates with sodium stearate or other materials, but they were used only in some incendiary bombs, shells, Li yen s drams and trench stoves, and not in flame throwers... 

At the beginning of WWII, materials used in flame throwers were liquids, which were no better than those used during WWI... 

The resulting precipitate was filtered, washed with water and dried. It was a granular,non-agglomerating powder which was reasonably resistant to oxidation. This powder could be easily dissolved, by stirring at room temperature, in gasoline or other petroleum hydrocarbons and used, not oaly in flame throwers, but also in incendiary bombs of different sixes... 

For portable American throwers, such as M-1A1 orM-2, 4.2g of Napalm were dissolved in 95.8g of ordinary gasoline at a temp above 15.5°(60°F). For "mechanized (tank) flame throwers, as for instance Model E9, a 10% solution of Napalm was used... 

PBA 4627)(1944)(Chemical ignition of flame throwers) G) Standard Oil Development Co, OSRD 3574(PBL 4187)0944) (Development of Portable Flamethrower E2)... 

Flame Thrower—Ml 32A (Amer). A self-propelled device (designed and manufd at Edgewood Arsenal, Md) which is capable of throwing a steady stream of flame more than 150 yards. Operated by a two-man crew, the thrower can fire continuously for 30 seconds or may be fired in bursts Ref Anon, Ordnance, July-August 1968, p 30-L... 

Gels for Flame Throwers, such as "Gelgas or "Jellied Gasoline and "Napalm are described in this Vol, under "Flame Throwers-Liquids and Gels p F56... 

Gelled Gasoline. See Gelgas under Flame Throwers-Li quids and Gels in Vol 6, p F56ff... 

Heat (a) Incendiary devices (Flame thrower fuels, Napalm bombs) (b) Igniters (a) For setting fire to combustible targets. (b) For producing intense heat for ignition of subsequent train of formulations and propellants. 

Fire has always been a difficult weapon to handle. One of the oldest uses of fire mentioned in the literature is the throwing of oil on an enemy and setting it alight The flame thrower is a modern device for streamlining this ancient practice. The systematic research and development work on incendiaries started during World War I. Subsequently, the most notable development is that of Napalm and Napalm -based incendiaries which proved to be extremely fatal during World War II, the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars. 

An incendiary material may be defined as a material that is readily capable of starting fires and can be used in a flame thrower, bomb, shell or warhead. It may also be defined as a material that burns with a hot flame for a long duration. Its purpose is to set fire wooden structures and other combustible targets. There are some incendiaries such as thermite which can be used for melting, cutting or welding metals. 

---