Information about 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 definitely known.

Modern flamethrowers were used first in 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. 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, delivering a particularly horrendous death — 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 rarely were 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 too closely, 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

Early history

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 (Da-Shi Guo).^[7] In a battle of 932 AD, at the Battle of Lang-shan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River), the naval fleet of the Wen-Mu King was defeated by Qian Yuan-guan because he had used 'fire oil' (huo yóu, 火油) to burn his fleet, signifying the first Chinese use of gunpowder in a battle.^[7] 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.^[8] Documented also in later Chinese publications, illustrations and descriptions of mobile flamethrowers on four-wheel push carts appear in the Wu Jing Zong Yao, 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.^[9]

20th century

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 inflammable oil in the upper section. On depressing a lever the propellant gas forced the inflammable 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 Flammenwerferapparate. Despite this, the weapon went unused in WWI, until 25 June 1915 when it was briefly used against the French. On 30 July, 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 six flamethrowers.

In WWI it was usual to shoot burning enemy soldiers, to save them the agonizing death by incineration; but in WWII such mercy was uncommon, unless they were a danger to one's own troops.

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 SS units executing, out-of-hand, any captured British flame tank crews.

Australian

See [1] : history and images

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 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.

External link with images: [2]

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. Some descriptions seem to say that its user could fire three shots, each emptying one of the tanks.

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 ineffectiveness in today's combat and use of flame weapons are always a PR 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.

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 nonstationary 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 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)

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 poisonous 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.

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".[3] 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.

In fiction

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

Hollywood seems to have no difficulty getting hold of flamethrowers, but, on-set, for the safety of the actors, they often are filled with propane gas, instead of liquid fuel, producing 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, i.e. 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).

The same basic effect was created by Stan Blackwell and his crew during the FOX drama 24's fifth season.

Behind the scenes in filmmaking flamethrowers are used as special effects tools in simulating fires, explosions, volcanic eruptions, et cetera.

• In the first Alien film, it is Ellen Ripley's primary weapon against the Xenomorphs.
• In Lethal Weapon 4 a criminal uses a flamethrower.
• In John Carpenter's The Thing, the flamethrower is often used against the shape-shifting alien creature.
• In the movies The Exterminator and Exterminator 2, Johnny Eastland (Robert Ginty) uses a flamethrower for wiping out criminals.
• In the flamethrower is used by The Fury, a member of the Cobra Unit during the battle against Naked Snake.
• In the game Company of Heroes, both the Wermacht and US sides feature infantry- and vehicle-portable flamethrowers.
• In the game Red Faction the player can wield a compact flamethrower and uses the fuel canister as a firebomb.
• In the game Starcraft, the Terran "Firebat" unit is a ground unit with dual-wielded flamethrowers on either arms.
• In the , the Brotherhood of Nod has used flame weapons since the First Tiberium War.
• In the flamethrower is a popular weapon. A lot of players disapprove of its use and often call players who use it flamers.
• In several games of the Grand Theft Auto series (Grand Theft Auto II, Grand Theft Auto III, , and ), the flamethrower is an available weapon.
• In the flamethrower is available for selection after finding a certain amount of collectables.
• In the game Aliens vs. Predator 2 the flamethrower is a weapon very effective against the xenomorphs.
• In the PC version of the flamethrower is available only in multiplayer mode. However, in Halo 3 the flamethrower is featured in both campaign mode and multiplayer.
• In the Xbox version of , in multiplayer mode there is a class called "thermophile" which wields a flamethrower.
• In the flamethrower is a weapon available in multiplayer and campaign mode on the second playthrough. It is highly effective against the .
• In Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Dr. Rick Dagless, MD sets the screaming Larry Renwick on fire with a flamethrower, after a barrage of shots from himself and Thornton Reed.
• Garfield uses a flamethrower to clean out his refrigerator.
• Repairman Jack uses a flamethrower to defeat the evil Rakoshi at the end of F. Paul Wilson's novel The Tomb
• In the anime Pumpkin Scissors the flamethrower is a weapon, banned by international treaties, but secretly used by Empire
• in Last War, mainly by 908 HTT platoon (High Temperature Troopers).
• in the TimeSplitters series, the flamethrower is a prominent weapon.
• In Resident Evil (video game), the character Chris Redfield can momentarily pick up a flamethrower in a mining area to unlock certain passages and wield it against monsters only for a limited amount of time.
• The character Dingodile of the Crash Bandicoot series has one.
• In the movie 28 Weeks Later, flamethrowers are used to exterminate those infected with Rage.
• Pyro from Marvel Comics carries a flamethrower as a source of flames, because he controls fire but can't create it himself.
• Pyro, a flamethrower-weilding arsonist, is a playable class in the video game Team Fortress 2. The flamethrower in question effectively sets most enemies alight aside from other Pyros who, due to their rubber jumpsuits, are immune to the flame.

Used with non-flammable liquids

• Converted Flamethrower 40 (fires a 0.5% solution of CN gas in water as a riot control weapon)

See also

• Flame Fougasse
• Greek fire
• Napalm
• Flame gun
• Meng Huo You
• Technology of Song Dynasty
• Huo Long Jing

Notes

References

• Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Part 7. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.

External links

• First World War.com: Weapons of War: Flamethrowers
• WEAPONS OF THE WORLD WAR II GYRENE: Flamethrowers
• Howstuffworks "How Flamethrowers Work"
• Jaeger Platoon: Portable flame-throwers
• Slate article from October 2001, "Why we should consider using flamethrowers in Afghanistan"
• A history of flamethrowers
• Image of flamethrower in use
• Images, including a tank-mounted flamethrower's nozzle
• The Pen Huo Qi

Videos of flamethrowers

• Video#1
• Video#2
• Video#3