Flamethrower

A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.

Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and natural gas, which is considered safer. They are used by the military and by people needing controlled burning capacity, such as in agriculture (e.g. sugar cane plantations) or other such land management tasks.

Military flamethrowers

Flamethrowers date from the Byzantines, who used hand-pumped flamethrowers on board their naval ships (see Greek fire). Infantry flamethrowers were of limited range and capacity; the larger naval flamethrowers were used to set alight enemy ships' sails and rigging. The composition of the flammable chemical projected with these primitive flamethrowers is not definitively known.

Modern flamethrowers were first used during the trench warfare conditions of World War I; their use greatly increased in WWII. They can be vehicle mounted, as on a tank, or hand-carried by infantry.

The flamethrower is in two elements: back pack and gun. The backpack element usually consists of two or three cylinders. One cylinder holds compressed, inert propellant gas (usually nitrogen), and the other two hold flammable liquid - typically petrol with some form of fuel thickener added to it. A three-cylinder system often has two outer cylinders of flammable liquid and a central cylinder of propellant gas to improve the balance of the soldier who carried it. The gas propels the fuel liquid out of the cylinder through a flexible pipe and then into the gun element of the flamethrower system. The gun consists of a small reservoir, a spring-loaded valve, and an ignition system; depressing a trigger opens the valve, allowing pressurized flammable liquid to flow and pass over the igniter and out the gun nozzle. The igniter can be one of several ignition systems; a simple type is an electrically-heated wire coil, another used a small pilot flame, fueled with pressurized gas from the system.

The flamethrower is a potent weapon with great psychological impact upon unprepared soldiers, inflicting a particularly horrific death i.e. being burnt alive. It is primarily used against battlefield fortifications, bunkers, and other protected emplacements. A flamethrower projects a stream of flammable liquid, rather than flame, which allows bouncing the stream off walls and ceilings to project the fire into blind and unseen spaces, such as inside bunkers or pillboxes. Typically, popular visual media depict the flamethrower as short-ranged, of a few effective meters (due to the common use of propane gas as the fuel in flamethrowers in movies, for the safety of the actors), but contemporary flamethrowers can incinerate targets at 50–80 meters (165–270 feet) distance from the gunner; moreover, an unignited stream of flammable liquid can be fired and afterwards ignited, possibly by a lamp or other flame inside the bunker.

Flamethrowers pose many risks to the operator. The first disadvantage is its weight, which impairs the soldier's mobility. Flamethrowers are very visible in the battlefield, and so operators become prominent targets for snipers. Historically, flamethrower operators were rarely taken prisoner, especially when their targets survived the impacts of the weapon; in reprisal, captured flamethrower users often were summarily executed. Finally, the flamethrower's effective range is short in comparison with that of other battlefield firearms, i.e. for effective use, flamethrower soldiers must approach their targets closely, risking exposing themselves to close enemy fire.

The risk of a flamethrower soldier being caught in the explosion if enemy gunfire hits the flamethrower is exaggerated in Hollywood films.^[1]

It should be noted that flame thrower operators did not usually face a fiery death from the slightest spark or even from having their tank hit by a normal bullet as often depicted in modern war films. The Gas Container [i.e. the pressurizer] is filled with a non-flammable gas that is under high pressure. If this tank were ruptured, it might knock the operator forward as it was expended in the same way a pressurized aerosol can bursts outward when punctured. The fuel mixture in the Fuel Containers is difficult to light which is why magnesium filled igniters are required when the weapon is fired. Fire a bullet into a metal can filled with diesel or napalm and it will merely leak out the hole unless the round was an incendiary type that could possibly ignite the mixture inside. This also applies to the flame thrower Fuel Container.^[2]

The best way to minimize the disadvantages of flame weapons was to mount them on armoured vehicles. The Commonwealth and the United States were the most prolific users of vehicle mounted flame weapons; the British and Canadians fielded the Wasp (a Universal Carrier) at the infantry battalion level, beginning in mid 1944, and, eventually, incorporating them to infantry battalions. Early tank-mounted flamethrower vehicles included the 'Badger' (a converted Ram tank) and the 'Oke', used first at Dieppe; the most famous flame tank was the Churchill Crocodile.^[3]

History

Greek fire may have been an early version of the flamethrower.

The concept of throwing fire has existed since ancient times. Greek fire, extensively used by the Byzantine Empire, is said to have been invented by Kallinikos (Callinicus) of Heliopolis, probably about 673. The flamethrower found its origins also in the Byzantine Empire, employing Greek fire in a device of a hand-held pump that shot bursts of Greek fire via a siphon-hose and piston, igniting it on a match on its way out, in a manner like its modern versions.^[4] Greek fire, used primarily at sea, gave the Byzantines a great military advantage against enemies such as the Arab Empire (which later adopted the use of Greek fire). An 11th century illustration of its use survives in the John Skylitzes manuscript.

The Pen Huo Qi (Fire Throwing Machine) was a Chinese piston flamethrower that used a substance similar to gasoline or naphtha, invented around 919 AD during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Advances in military technology aided the Song Dynasty in its defense against hostile neighbors to the north, including the Mongols. The earliest reference to Greek Fire in China was made in 917 AD, written by the author Wu Ren-chen in his Shi Guo Chun Qiu.^[5] In 919 AD, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the 'fierce fire oil' that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu in his Wu Yue Bei Shi, hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire.^[6] Lin Yu mentioned also that the 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from China's contact in the 'southern seas', Arabia (Dashiguo).^[7] In the Battle of Langshan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River) in 932, the naval fleet of the Wenmu King of Wuyue defeated the fleet of the Kingdom of Wu because he had used 'fire oil' (huo yóu, 火油) to burn his fleet; this signified the first Chinese use of gunpowder in warfare, since a slow-burning match fuse was required to ignite the flames.^[8] The Chinese applied the use of double-piston bellows to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and downstroke), lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame (as referred to in the Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044 AD).^[7] In the suppression of the Southern Tang state by 976 AD, early Song naval forces confronted them on the Yangtze River in 975 AD. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction.^[9] Documented also in later Chinese publications, illustrations and descriptions of mobile flamethrowers on four-wheel push carts appear in the Wujing Zongyao, written in 1044 AD (its illustration redrawn in 1601 as well).

Although flamethrowers were never used in the American Civil War, the use of Greek Fire was threatened, and flamethrowers have been in use in most modern conflicts since then.^[10]

20th century

An M67 "Zippo" tank of the U.S.M.C. during the Vietnam war.

The English word 'flamethrower' is a loan-translation of the German word Flammenwerfer, since the modern flamethrower was first invented in Germany. The first flamethrower, in the modern sense, usually is credited to Richard Fiedler. He submitted evaluation models of his Flammenwerfer to the German army in 1901. The most significant model submitted was a man-portable device, consisting of a vertical single cylinder 4 feet (1.2 m) long, horizontally divided in two, with pressurized gas in the lower section and flammable oil in the upper section. On depressing a lever the propellant gas forced the flammable oil into and through a rubber tube and over a simple igniting wick device in a steel nozzle. The weapon projected a jet of fire and enormous clouds of smoke some 20 yards (18 m). It was a single-shot weapon - for burst firing, a new igniter section was attached each time.

WWI

It was not until 1911 that the German army accepted the device, creating a specialist regiment of twelve companies equipped with Flammenwerferapparaten. Despite this, the weapon went unused in WWI until June 25, 1915, when it was briefly used against the French. On July 30, 1915, it was used against British trenches at Hooge, with limited, but impressive, success.

The weapon had drawbacks: it was cumbersome and difficult to operate and could only be safely fired from a trench, so limiting its safe use to areas where the opposing army trenches were less than 20 yards apart, which was not a common situation. Nevertheless, the German army continued deploying flamethrowers during the war in more than 300 battles, usually in teams of 6 flamethrowers.

WWII

The flamethrower was extensively used during World War II. In 1940, the Wehrmacht first deployed man-portable flamethrowers to destroy Dutch gun emplacements and fortifications. Subsequently, in 1942, the U.S. Army introduced its own man-pack flamethrower.

The vulnerability of infantry carrying backpack flamethrowers and the weapon's short range led to experiments with tank-mounted flamethrowers (flame tanks). The British hardly used their man-portable systems, relying on special Sherman, Churchill, and Matilda tanks in the European theatre. These tanks proved very effective against German defensive positions, and caused official Axis protests against their use. There are documented instances of German units executing, out-of-hand, any captured British flame tank crews.

British

The British WWII army flamethrowers, "Ack Packs", had a doughnut-shaped fuel tank with a small spherical pressurizer gas tank in the middle. As a result, some troops nicknamed them "lifebuoys". See description and image and Flamethrower, Portable, No 2.

German

The Germans made considerable use of the weapon (Flammenwerfer 35) during their invasion of western Europe, especially in Holland and France, against fixed fortifications, but it soon fell into disfavor, except in reprisal operations. Yet, on the Eastern Front its battlefield and "scorched earth" tactic uses continued until the end of the war. See the Stroop Report link on article of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

WWII German army flamethrowers tended to have one large fuel tank with the pressurizer tank fastened to its back or side. Some WWII German army flamethrowers occupied only the lower part of its wearer's back, leaving the upper part of his back free for an ordinary packful of supplies.

As the Third Reich was deteriorating at the end half of WW2, a smaller compact flamethrower known as the Einstossflammenwerfer 46 was produced due to the lack of materials and funds.

USA

In the Pacific theatre, the US Marines used the backpack-type M2A1-7 flamethrower and M2-2 flamethrowers, finding them especially useful in clearing Japanese trench and bunker complexes. In cases where the Japanese were protected from the flames by deep caves, the burning flames often consumed the available oxygen, suffocating the occupants. The Marines eventually stopped using their infantry-portable systems with the arrival of adapted Sherman tanks with the Ronson system (c.f. flame tank). The U.S. Army rarely used flamethrowers in Europe, though they were available for special employments.

USSR

Some Soviet Army flamethrowers had three backpack fuel tanks side by side. Its user could fire three shots, each emptying one of the tanks. The mechanism used to empty the tank is not a pressurised gas cylinder but a black powder cartridge on each fuel cylinder. This type is used in two versions: a) Light Infantry Flamethrower (ΛΠΟ)LPO-50 and in a heavier version dragged on two wheels and remotely triggered b) Heavy Infantry Flamethrower (ТПО)TPO-70

The ROKS-1 flamethrower was a stationary device used for the defense of strongholds. It could rather be categorised as a projecting incendiary mine. Different to the LPO and TPO flamethrowers the ROKS had only one cylinder with fuel.

Unlike the flamethrowers of the other powers during WWII, the Soviets were the only ones to consciously attempt to camouflage their flamethrowers, The ROKS-2 flamethrower which was done by disguising the "gun" as a standard issue rifle, such as the Mosin Nagant, and the fuel tanks as a standard infantryman's rucksack, to try to stop snipers from specifically targeting flamethrower operators.

After 1945

The United States Marines used flamethrowers in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Flamethrowers have not been in the U.S. arsenal since 1978, when the Department of Defense unilaterally stopped using them. They have been deemed of questionable effectiveness in today's combat and use of flame weapons is always a public relations issue. They are not banned in any international treaty the U.S. has signed. Thus, the US decision to remove flamethrowers from its arsenal is entirely voluntary.

The USSR developed a rocket launcher specifically for the deployment of incendiaries - the ΡΠΟ-80 (RPO) or Rocket-launched Infantry Flamethrower. It has similarities to the famous RPG rocketlaunchers but the warhead is much bigger (approx. 2-3 liters Napalm) thus reducing the effective range.

Private ownership

In the United States, private ownership of a flamethrower is not restricted by federal law, but is restricted in some of its states, such as California, by state laws (c.f. California Health and Welfare Codes 12750-12761, Flamethrowing Devices) CA H&W Code on line

In California, unlicensed possession of a flame-throwing device — statutorily defined as "any non-stationary and transportable device designed or intended to emit or propel a burning stream of combustible or flammable liquid a distance of at least 10 feet" H&W 12750 (a) — is a misdemeanor punishable with a county jail term not exceeding one year OR with a fine not exceeding $10,000 (CA H&W 12761). Licenses to use flamethrowers are issued by the State Fire Marshal, and he or she, may use any criteria for issuing or not issuing that license that he deems fit, but must publish those criteria in the California Code of Regulations, Title 11, Section 970 et seq. CA Regs (CA H&W 12756) (definitions and scope, administration, enforcement and penalties)

The book Breath Of The Dragon: Homebuilt Flamethrowers, by Ragnar Benson describes homebuilt construction of flamethrowers for private ownership.

Other uses

Flamethrowers also are used by people needing controlled burns, as in agriculture and other land management tasks. In ripe canebrakes of sugar cane, they are used to burn up the dry dead leaves which clog harvesters, and incidentally also kill any lurking venomous snakes. Flamethrowers are also sometimes used for igniting controlled burns of grassland or forest, although more commonly a driptorch or a flare (fusee) is used.

Flamethrowers were used against Africanized honey bee (killer bee) swarms in the 1970's. ^{[citation needed]}

U.S. troops used flamethrowers on the streets of Washington D.C. to clear snow (as mentioned in a December 1998 article in San Francisco Flier), one of several clearance methods used for the surprisingly large amount of snow that fell before the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy. A history article on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notes, "In the end, the task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and flamethrowers to clear the way".[1] The massive effort by city, military, and others even included 1700 Boy Scouts. The work paid off the next day, January 20 1961, with JFK's successful inauguration.

Flamethrowers are also used for special effects, such as concerts and special events; particularly, the band Rammstein's lead singer Till Lindemann is known to use a flamethrower during live performances.

Converted Flamethrower 40s, which fire a 0.5% solution of CN gas in water, have been used as riot control weapons.

In fiction

Due to the flamethrower's spectacular effect it is often used in action movies and video games, even where in reality it would not be used.

Hollywood seems to have no difficulty getting hold of flamethrowers; however, for the safety of the actors, they often are filled with propane gas instead of liquid fuel. This produces a visually similar (though rarely identical) flame effect, but without the spray of fuel, splatter of flame, dense smoke, and area effect of the genuine fuel. In the Omaha Beach sequence of Saving Private Ryan, the exploding flamethrower was filled with enough propane gas to burst the containers and produce spectacular flames. The explosion seen occurred seconds after the tank burst - it was caused by blowing vaporized propane onto the explosion (the cloud is visible in the finished film as a billowing white cloud in front of the actor).

In the Oscar winning film The Deer Hunter character Michael Vronsky, played by Robert De Niro, used a flamethrower to kill an NVA soldier in the Vietnam War.
One of the weapons in the Grand Theft Auto series that you can use is a flamethrower.
The same basic effect was created by Stan Blackwell and his crew during the FOX drama 24's fifth season.
In the film The Running Man, the 'Stalker' named 'FIREBALL' uses a Flame-thrower to hunt and kill criminal 'runners' in the shows gauntlet zones. His Flame Thrower is combined together with a Jet Pack that allows him to fly and move around the game zones at speed.
A flamethrower is used briefly in the Neon Genesis Evangelion movie, The End of Evangelion, by JSSDF soldiers assaulting NERV headquarters, to kill offscreen NERV employees.
Behind the scenes in filmmaking flamethrowers are used as tools in simulating fires, explosions, volcanic eruptions, and other special effects.
The character Dingodile from the video game series Crash Bandicoot uses a flamethrower as a main weapon.
In the online game Warhawk published for the Sony Play Station 3, one of the weapons is a flamethrower.
Flamethrowers are the preferred tool (in the form of fire hoses that spout fire instead of water), at one point used to fatal effect, in the arsenal of the Firemen in Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the government has banned reading in an effort to control the population. Since (in the book) all houses are constructed from fireproof materials, Firemen have become government enforcers tasked with destroying stockpiles of any banned reading materials.
In the Star Wars series, a race of Jedi-hunters known as Mandalorians equip themselves in armor, which contains a jetpack and flamethrower. As briefly shown in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, it does not appear that Jedi are capable of telekinetically diverting the flames, nor do lightsabers have any significant effect against the burning liquid stream.
In Team Fortress Classic and Team Fortress 2 the pyro class has a flamethrower as the main weapon.
In Halo 3 the player can use a flamethrower as a weapon.
In The Blues Brothers, Carrie Fisher's character chases Elwood and Jake around seeking revenge for being left at the altar, and in one scene makes an attempt on their life with a flamethrower.
In Spaceballs, in the scene that parodied the merchandising, one of the items that Yogurt introduced was, "Spaceballs: The Flame Thrower."
In the game Heli Attack 3, a Flame Thrower is one of the most powerful weapons.

Notes

^ "canadiansoldiers.com flamethrower article". Retrieved 2007-05-26.
^ Gordon, David. Weapons of the WWII Tommy
^ "canadiansoldiers.com flamethrower article". Retrieved 2007-05-26.
^ Needham, Volume 5, 77.
^ Needham, Volume 5, 80.
^ Needham, Volume 5, 81.
^ ^a ^b Needham, Volume 5, 82.
^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–83.
^ Needham, Volume 5, 89.
^ History of Incendiary Weapons, and their use in the American Civil War

References

Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China. Vol. Volume 5, Part 7. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)

External links

[1] "canadiansoldiers.com flamethrower article". Retrieved 2007-05-26.

[2] Gordon, David. Weapons of the WWII Tommy

[3] "canadiansoldiers.com flamethrower article". Retrieved 2007-05-26.

[needham_volume_5_77-4] Needham, Volume 5, 77.

[needham_volume_5_80-5] Needham, Volume 5, 80.

[needham_volume_5_81-6] Needham, Volume 5, 81.

[needham_volume_5_82-7] Needham, Volume 5, 82.

[8] Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 81–83.

[needham_volume_5_89-9] Needham, Volume 5, 89.

[10] History of Incendiary Weapons, and their use in the American Civil War

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]