The FReeper Foxhole Studies Flamethrowers

How Flamethrowers Work

Although other nations deployed flame throwers in WWI the US only began in WWII. The M2-2 and close variants, shown in this photo, were also used in the Korean War.

The napalm-gasoline fuel was propelled by a gas system of pressurized nitrogen, flow rate controlled by the rear hand grip. Leaving the nozzle the fuel was spark-lit by a battery-powered pyrotechnic ignition system controlled by the trigger in the front hand grip.

Radio Hill, Wolmi-Do, 9/15/50 Marine burns out North Korean weapons emplacement

By World War II, forces on both sides used a range of flamethrower weapons on the battlefield. The most impressive innovation was the handheld flamethrower. This long, gun-type weapon has an attached fuel tank that soldiers can carry on their back.

The backpack contains three cylinder tanks. The two outside tanks hold a flammable, oil-based liquid fuel, similar to the material used to make Greek fire. The tanks have screw-on caps, so they can be refilled easily. The middle tank holds a flammable, compressed gas (such as butane). This tank feeds gas through a pressure regulator to two connected tubes.

Link to diagram of flamethrower
Be sure to follow mouse click instructions at the bottom of the graphic to make the flamethrower work!

One tube leads to the ignition system in the gun. The other tube leads to the two side fuel tanks, letting the compressed gas into the open area above the flammable liquid. The compressed gas applies a great deal of downward pressure on the fuel, driving it out of the tanks, through a connected hose, into a reservoir in the gun.

The gun housing has a long rod running through it, with a valve plug on the end. A spring at the back of the gun pushes the rod forward, pressing the plug into a valve seat. This keeps the fuel from flowing out through the gun nozzle when the trigger lever is released.

When the operator squeezes the trigger lever, it pulls the rod (and the attached plug) backward. With the valve open, the pressurized fuel can flow through the nozzle. Some flamethrowers can shoot a fuel stream as far as 50 yards (46 meters).

As it exits the nozzle, the fuel flows past the ignition system. Over the years, there have been a variety of ignition systems used in flamethrowers. One of the simpler systems was a coil of high-resistance wire. When electrical current passed through these wires, they released a lot of heat, warming the fuel to the combustion point.

When the ignition valve is open, compressed flammable gas from the middle cylinder tank on the backpack flows through a long length of hose to the end of the gun. Here it is mixed with air and released through several small holes into the chamber in front of the nozzle.

The gun also has two spark plugs positioned in front of the nozzle, which are powered by a portable battery. To prepare the gun, the operator opens the ignition valve and presses a button that activates the spark plug. This creates a small flame in front of the nozzle, which ignites the flowing fuel, creating the fire stream.

In World Wars I and II, as well as in the Vietnam war, similar flamethrower designs were mounted on tanks.

German Panzer

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

www.diggerhistory.info/
www.stormpages.com/

To the Marines on the ground during the battle for Iwo Jima in February 1945, the Sherman M4A3 medium tank equipped with the Navy Mark I flamethrower was the best thing going. The Marines had come a long way in the tactical use of fire in the 15 months since Tarawa, when only a handful of backpack flamethrowers were available to combat the island's hundreds of fortifications.

The Iwo Jima landing force still relied on portable flamethrowers, but many Marines saw the value of going one step further and marrying the technology with armored vehicles.

In the Mariana Islands in 1944, the Marines modified M3A1 light tanks with the Canadian Ronson flame system to good effect; the problems came instead from the vulnerability of the small vehicles. At Peleliu, the 1st Marine Division mounted the improvised Mark I system on a thin-skinned LVT-4; again, vehicle vulnerability limited the system's effectiveness. The solution seemed to lie in mounting the flamethrower on a medium tank.

The first modification to Sherman tanks involved the installation of the small E4-5 mechanized flamethrower in place of the bow machine gun. This was only a marginal improvement; the system's short range, modest fuel supply and awkward aiming process hardly offset the loss of the machine gun. Even so, each of the three battalions employed E-4-5-equipped Shermans during the battle for Iwo Jima. The best solution came from an unlikely joint task force of Navy Seabees, Army chemical-warfare service technicians and Marine tankers in Hawaii.

According to Lt. Col. William R. Collins, commander of the 5th Tank Battalion, this inspired group modified the Mark I flame thrower to operate from within the Sherman's turret, replacing the 75mm main gun with a look-alike launch tube. The modified system could then be trained and pointed like a conventional turret gun. Unfortunately, the ad hoc modification team had only sufficient time and components to modify eight M4A3 tanks with the Mark I flame system; four each went to the 4th and 5th Tank Battalions. The 3rd Tank Battalion, then in Guam, received neither the M4A3 Shermans nor the field modifications in time for Iwo Jima, although a number of their A2 tanks had the bow-mounted E4-5 system.

The eight modified Sherman flame tanks proved ideal against Iwo Jima's rugged caves and concrete fortifications. The Japanese feared this weapon greatly; time and time again suicide squads of "human bullets" would assail the flamethrowing tanks directly, only to be shot down by Marine riflemen or scorched by the main weapon.

Enemy fire and the rough terrain took their toll on the eight flame tanks, but maintenance crews worked around the clock to keep them running. In the words of Capt. Frank C. Caldwell, a company commander with the 26th Marines: "In my view, it was the flame tank more than any other supporting arm that won this battle." Demands for the flame tanks never diminished.

Late in the battle for Iwo Jima, as the 5th Marine Division cornered the last Japanese defenders,the 5th Tank Battalion expended 10,000 gallons of napalm-thickened fuel per day. The division's final action report stated that the flame tank was "the one weapon that caused the [Japanese] to leave their caves and rock crevices and run."

Fuel hose stretches up hill

Tanks advance up hill

Flame hits hill

Burned out Japanese survivor

Enemy position burned out

A U.S. Navy "Zippo" flamethrower

The unreliability of electronic ignition systems meant that operators sometimes had to use a Zippo lighter to ignite the fuel as it left the nozzle.

Vietnam

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Good Morning SAM.

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

Our local dial-up is back in service. It happened after I called the Answering service to report the problem. Yesterday we used out of town numberfor a few of the Internet visits.

Today's classic warship, USS New York (BB-34)

New York class battleship
displacement. 27,000 t.
length. 573'
beam. 95'3"
draft. 28'6"
speed. 21 k.
complement. 1,042
armament. 10 14", 21 5", 4 21." tt.

The USS New York (BB-34) was laid down 11 September 1911 by Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York; launched 30 October 1912; sponsored by Miss Elsie Calder; and commissioned 15 April 1914, Captain Thomas S. Rodgers in command.

Ordered south soon after commissioning, New York was flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher, commanding the fleet occupying and blockading Vera Cruz until resolution of the crisis with Mexico in July 1914. New York then headed north for fleet operations along the Atlantic coast as war broke out in Europe.

Upon the entry of the United States into the war, New York sailed as flagship with Battleship Division 9 commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman to strengthen the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea, arriving Scapa Flow 7 December 1917. Constituting a separate squadron in the Grand Fleet, the American ships joined in blockade and escort missions and by their very presence so weighted the Allies' preponderance of naval power as to inhibit the Germans from attempting any major fleet engagement's. New York twice encountered U-boats.

During her World War I service, New York was frequently visited by royal and other high-ranking representatives of the Allies, and she was present for one of the most dramatic moments of the war, the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in the Firth of Forth 21 November 1918. As a last European mission, New York joined the ships escorting President Woodrow Wilson from an ocean rendezvous, to Brest en route the Versailles Conference.

Returning to a program which alternated individual and fleet exercises with necessary maintenance, New York trained in the Caribbean in spring 1919, and that summer joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego, her home port for the next 16 years. She trained off Hawaii and the West Coast, occasionally returning to the Atlantic and Caribbean for brief missions or overhauls. New York underwent modernization in 1925-27, receiving new oil-fired boilers, anti-torpedo bulges on her hull sides, heavier deck armor, up-to-date gunfire control mechanisms and many other improvements that enhanced her combat capabilities.

In 1937, carrying Admiral Hugh Rodman, the President's personal representative for the coronation of King George VI of England, New York sailed to take part in the Grand Naval Review of 20 May 1937 as sole U.S. Navy representative.

For much of the following 3 years, New York trained Naval Academy midshipmen and other prospective officers with cruises to Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean, and in mid-1941 she joined the Neutrality Patrol. She escorted troops to Iceland in July 1941, then served as station ship at Argentia, Newfoundland, protecting the new American base there. From America's entry into World War II, New York guarded Atlantic convoys to Iceland and Scotland when the U-boat menace was gravest, submarine contacts were numerous, but the convoys were brought to harbor intact.

New York brought her big guns to the invasion of North Africa, providing crucial gunfire support at Safi 8 November 1942. She then stood by at Casablanca and Fedhala before returning home for convoy duty escorting critically needed men and supplies to North Africa. She then took up important duty training gunners for battleships and destroyer escorts in Chesapeake Bay, rendering this vital service until 10 June 1944, when she began the first of 3 training cruises for the Naval Academy, voyaging to Trinidad on each.

New York sailed 21 November for the West Coast, arriving San Pedro 6 December for gunnery training in preparation for amphibious operations. She departed San Pedro 12 January 1945, called at Pearl Harbor, and was diverted to Eniwetok to survey screw damage. Nevertheless, despite impaired speed, she joined the Iwo Jima assault force in rehearsals at Saipan. She sailed well ahead of the main body to join in preinvasion bombardment at Iwo Jima 16 February. During the next 3 days, she fired more rounds than any other ship present; and, as if to show what an old-timer could do, made a spectacular direct 14"-hit on an enemy ammunition dump.

Leaving Iwo Jima, New York at last repaired her propellers at Manus, and had speed restored for the assault on Okinawa, which she reached 27 March to begin 76 consecutive days of action. She fired preinvasion and diversionary bombardments, covered landings, and gave days and nights of close support to troops advancing ashore. She did not go unscathed; a kamikaze grazed her 14 April, demolishing her spotting plane on its catapult. She left Okinawa 11 June to regun at Pearl Harbor.

New York prepared at Pearl Harbor for the planned invasion of Japan, and after war's end, made a voyage to the West Coast returning veterans and bringing out their replacements. She sailed from Pearl Harbor again 29 September with passengers for New York, arriving 19 October. Here she prepared to serve as target ship in operation "Crossroads," the Bikini atomic tests, sailing 4 March 1946 for the West Coast. She left San Francisco 1 May, and after calls in Pearl Harbor and Kwajalein, reached Bikini 15 June. Surviving the surface blast 1 July and the underwater explosion 25 July, she was taken into Kwajalein and decommissioned there 29 August 1946. Later towed to Pearl Harbor, she was studied during the next two years, and on 8 July 1948 was towed out to sea some 40 miles and there sunk after an 8-hour pounding by ships and planes carrying out full-scale battle maneuvers with new weapons.

New York received 3 battle stars for World War II service.

Present!

Good morning EGC. With your limited service yesterday we really appreciate that you stopped by the Foxhole.

From ship to shore, how far could those guns fire?

Good morning manna.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on November 28:
1628 John Bunyan England, cleric/author (Pilgrim's Progress)
1632 Jean-Baptiste Lully Florence Italy, composer (Bellerophen)
1757 William Blake English poet/painter (Songs of Innocence & Experience)
1785 Achille-Charles duc de Broglie, French PM (1835-36)
1804 James O Eastland (sen)
1805 John Stephens US archeologist; founded study of Central America
1810 William Froude England, engineer, naval architect
1820 Friedrich Engels Germany, social philosopher; Marx's collaborator
1821 Nikolai Nekrasov Russia, poet/journalist (Who Can be Happy in Russia?)
1829 Anton Rubinstein Vykhvatinetz Podolia, composer (Omitri Donskoy)
1866 Henry Bacon architect (Lincoln Memorial)
1881 Stefan Zweig Vienna Austria, poet/essayist/dramatist (Beware of Pity)
1894 Brooks Atkinson drama critic (Broadway theater namesake)
1895 Jose Iturbi Valencia Spain, pianist (Pequena danza Espanola)
1902 Victor Jory Dawson City Canada, actor (Kings Row, Manhunt)
1907 Alberto Moravia Italian writer (Indifferent Ones)
1908 Claude Levi-Strauss Belgium, social anthropologist (Structure Anthro)
1916 Guy Lapebie France, 100K cyclist (Olympic-silver-1936)
1920 Cecilia Colledge England, figure skater, competed in Olympics at 11 (1932)
1925 Gloria Grahame Los Angeles CA, actress (Sue-Rich Man Poor Man)
1925 Virginia Hewitt Shreveport La, actress (Carol-Space Patrol)
1929 Berry Gordy Jr Detroit, record company owner (Motown)
1931 Hope Lange Redding Ridge CT, actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir)
1936 Gary Hart (Sen-D-Colo), lover
1941 Laura Antonelli Pola Yugoslavia, actress (Wifemistress, Divine Nymph)
1942 Paul Warfield NFL/WFL wide receiver (Cleveland, Miami, Memphis)
1943 Randy Newman singer (Short People, I Love LA, Raindrops)
1949 Alexander Godunov Russia, composer/dancer (Bolshoi) defected 1979
1949 Paul Shaffer Thunder Bay Ont, orchestra leader (SNL, David Letterman)
1950 Ed Harris Tenafly NJ, actor (Right Stuff, Swing Shift, Walker, Coma)
1959 Judd Nelson actor (Breakfast Club)
1964 Cornelia Guest debutante (Debutante's Guide to Life)
1967 Vickie Smith Houston TX, playmate (May, 1992)

Deaths which occurred on November 28:
1058 Kazimierz I Restaurator, duke of Poland (1034-58), dies
1262 Shinran founder of Japan's True Pure Land Buddhist sect, dies
1499 Edward Plantagenet, 18th Count of Warwick, beheaded
1680 Giovanni L Bernini, Italian sculptor/painter, dies
1794 Friedrich von Steuben, Prussian/US inspector-general of Washingtons army, dies at 64
1827 Dov Baer Schneersohn Lubavitch leader/author (Imirei Binah), dies
1859 Washington Irving, US author (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip van Winkle), dies
1939 James A Naismith creator of basketball, dies at 78
1945 Dwight Davis donator of the Davis cup, dies
1954 Enrico Fermi, Italian/US physicist (Nobel 1938), dies at 53
1960 Richard Wright dies at 52 in Paris France
1962 Queen Mother Wilhelmina of Netherlands, dies at 82
1963 Fred Uttal TV host (QED), dies at 55
1963 Karyn Kupcinet actress (Carol-Gertrude Berg Show), murdered at 23
1964 Charles Meredith actor (Court of Last Resort), dies at 70
1971 Wasfi Tal Jordan's PM, assassinated in Cairo
1976 Rosalind Russell dies at 68
1977 Trevor Bardette actor (Clanton-Legend of Wyatt Earp), dies at 75
1983 Christopher George actor, dies at 54 of a heart attack
1986 Herb Vigran actor (Ernest-Ed Wynn Show), dies at 76
1987 Choh Hao Li bio-chemist prof (isolated growth hormones), dies at 74
1994 Jeffrey Dahmer, [Butcher of Milwaukee], Serial killer/cannibal, beaten to death in prison at 34
1994 Jerry Rubin, US anti-war activist (Youth Party), dies at 56
1994 Ronald "Buster" Edwards, Great Train Robber, commits suicide at 62

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 REYNOLDS JON A.---WILMINGTON DE.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1965 RUTLEDGE HOWARD E.---SAN DIEGO CA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DECEASED]
1966 HOEFFS JOHN H.---OCEANSIDE CA.
1970 SMITH RONALD E.---COVINGTON IN.
1972 EARNEST CHARLES M.---OPELIKA AL.
1972 HARVEY JACK R.---GARDINER ME.
1972 JONES BOBBY M.---MACON GA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
741 St Gregory III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1340 Battle of Salado Spain: last Moor invasion driven back
1520 Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing Pacific Ocean
1729 Natchez Indians massacre most of the 300 French settlers and soldiers at Fort Rosalie, Louisiana.
1795 US pays $800,000 & a frigate as tribute to Algiers & Tunis
1853 Olympia established as capital of Washington Territory
1861 Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to the CSA
1862 Battle at Cane Hill, Arkansas (475 casualties)
1864 3rd day of Battles at Waynesboro/Jones's Plantation, Georgia
1871 Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in SC
1895 America's 1st auto race starts; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner averages 7 MPH
1901 Gustav Mahler's 4th Symphony in G, premieres
1905 Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Fein in Dublin.
1908 154 men die in coal mine explosion at Marianna Pa
1919 US-born Lady Astor elected 1st female member of British Parliament
1921 Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Bah (Bah '¡ festival-Qawl 6, 78)
1922 Capt Cyril Turner (RAF) gave 1st skywriting exhibition (NYC). Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 called
1925 Famed NHL goalie Georges Vezina collapses in a game & dies of TB 4months later
1925 The Grand Ole Opry, Nashville's famed home of country music, made its radio debut on station WSM.
1929 Adm Richard E Byrd makes 1st South Pole flight
1929 Ernie Nevers scores all 40 pts for Chicago Cards vs Bears (NFL record)
1942 Nearly 500 die in a fire that destroyed Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston MA
1943 FDR, Churchill & Stalin met at Tehran to map out strategy
1948 "Hopalong Cassidy" premiers on TV
1948 1st Polaroid camera sold
1958 Chad becomes an autonomous republic within the French community
1958 Congo & Mauritania become autonomous members of French Community
1958 George "Punch" Imlach becomes coach of NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs
1960 Mauritania gains independence from France (National Day)
1963 1st million copy record prior to release "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
1963 Beatles "She Loves You" returns to #1 on UK record chart
1964 Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars
1966 Coup in Burundi overthrows monarchy; a republic is declared
1968 John Lennon is fined œ150 for unauthorized drug possession
1972 Los Angeles Dodgers trade Frank Robinson to California Angels
1974 Bowie Kuhn suspends George Steinbrenner for 2 years
1979 Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes in Antarctica killing 257
1981 Bear Bryant wins his 315th game to out distance Alonzo Stagg & become college football's winningest coach
1983 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-is launched
1986 Reagan administration exceeds SALT II arms limitations for 1st time
1987 South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into Indian Ocean, 159 die
1988 Picasso's "Acrobat & Harlequin" sells for $38.46 million
1989 Rickey Henderson signs record $3,000,000 per year Oak A's contract
2000 George W. Bush's lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to bring "legal finality" to the presidential election by ending any further ballot recounts; Al Gore's team countered that the nation's highest court should not interfere in Florida's recount dispute.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Albania : Independence Day (1912)
Chad, Burundi : Republic Day (1966)
Mauritius : Independence Day (1960)
Panama, Canal Zone : Independence Day
UAE : Accession of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi
US : Leftover Week Begins
US : Ski Patrol Day
National Diabetes Month

Religious Observances
Ang : Commemoration of Kamehameha & Emma
RC : St Catherine Labour‚, virgin
RC : Commemoration of St James of La Marcha, confessor
RC : Commemoration of St Joseph Pignatelli, Spanish Jesuit
RC : Commemoration of St Catherine Labour‚, virgin
Moslem : Night of the Ascent (Rajab 27, 1418 AH)

Religious History
1739 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Follow after, but do not run before the blessed Spirit; if you do, although you may benefit others, and God may overrule everything for your own good, yet you will certainly destroy the peace of your own soul.'
1863 Thanksgiving was first observed as a regular American holiday. Proclaimed by President Lincoln the previous month, it was declared that the event would be observed annually, on the fourth Thursday in November.
1904 Death of Jeremiah E. Rankin, 76, American Congregational clergyman. He authored a number of hymns during his life, including "Tell It To Jesus" and "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."
1950 A constitutional convention (comprised of 14 Protestant, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox denominations) met in Cleveland, Ohio, and brought into being the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Today, the NCCC serves to administer disaster relief, strengthen family life, provide leadership training, and promote world peace.
1984 Pope John Paul II completed the last of 133 homilies in St. Peter's Square on the theme, "Theology of the Body." It was the first time in public catechesis that a pope made use of higher criticism of the Old Testament and freely cited a number of Protestant theologians.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"A good man gone wrong is usually a bad man found out."

Question of the day...
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

Murphys Law of the day...(Clark's Law)
It's always darkest just before the lights go out.

Astounding fact #87,912...
Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards

US : Leftover Week Begins

I couldn't eat leftovers for an entire week!

I always wanted one, but I was told I couldn't have it.
I might "Use it in the house."...
;(

LOL. I bet! I wouldn't let you have one either, couldn't trust you to keep it outside. :)

Roughly 35,000 yards for the 14" guns.
The 16" Dahlgrens on the Iowa class were good out to 45,000 yards.
IIRC from a certain book I have, and without consulting it yet..

Thank you Darksheare. That's a lot farther than I thought!

Well.. I was pretty good at keeping my OTHER fire based things outside..

That's off the top of my head without grabbing the book for hard numbers.