German Flares

Still another illustration involves the English fog. American airmen there, in their around-the-clock bombing of German targets, suffered heavier casualties in landing on the. fog-bound runways than during combat missions. A flare... 

P517-L R under refs for BlkPdr and Pyro-dex , and in Vol 6, F63-L to F69 (fig) under Flare. . . , F70-L to F72-R under Flare, German , and the following reported work. When combined, Ba chromate (74-77), Mn (20—22) and S (3—4%) has been used to form gasless powders for (pyrot) delay elements of fuzes (Refs 5, 6, 9, 10 and 16). Baldwin and Wooldridge (Ref 20) report on pyrot dissemination research which has resulted in some press-temp rise and differential thermal analysis data... 

The release of product or feed gas into the envirorunent and the formation of a free flammable gas cloud could result in heat radiation and blast wave impact from fire / explosion. For the German PNP design, it was proposed to ensure that the gas be routed through inerted charmels away from the gasifier and flared at a safe spot. This measure, however, requires additional components in the confinement, e.g., to allow for a separation of the coal dust from the gas mixture and a cooling of the mixture [25]. 

In 191A German magnesium was showing up on the battle field in incendiary flares. The U.S. had no supply, and the price shot up to 6.00/lb. 

The War Department used many of these perchlorate compounds in W.W.I., contrary to the claim of the U.S. Army Center for Ordnance Expertise that perchlorate was first used in W.W.n. The Germans also had a 17 cm shell which used ammonium perchlorate as the explosive filler. In W.W.I., the United States used perchlorate compounds for signaling rockets and flares, and as a burster charge in gas grenades. Perchlorate is and has been used in over 250 munitions often in powder train time fuses and propellants in rockets and in other time fuse applications. Since perchlorate is so water soluble, it is a secondary contaminant in water dumped or buried munitions. Perchlorate has an exothermic reaction (heats up) as it ages, capable of spontaneous combustion. 

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