BTW, the US military retired their last man-portable flamethrowers in the early 70s. Just not cost-effective any more, I guess. They since did away also with the tank-mounted ones (replaced with napalm drops).
The way they worked was that you had one tank of compressed air + one tank of flammable fluid (blend of fuels sometimes customized depending on your local weather conditions i.e. how wet or windy was it); you’d have two triggers on the nozzle “gun”: rear one to open flow, front one to light, with a clip of expendable igniters. You shot a stream of flaming fluid at the target for a very brief period of time, mere seconds as MEBruckner looked up – it was not a weapon for wandering the field seeking out targets of oportunity, nor for precision-shooting individuals, but one you broke out specifically when you identified a particular bunker/pillbox/machine-gun nest/cave (i.e. position where you could not get clear shots in) that you needed to render harmless muy pronto.
General Sherman had it right, about war being hell.
Also, the guys lugging around flamethrower fuel were easy targets. If someone managed to hit them and pierce the tank, it either exploded setting the operators on fire, or leaked and then started burning. Either way I’m glad they retired the things.
It does however remind me of this quote:
“Make a man a fire, and he will stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he will stay warm for the rest of his life.”
I saw one, WWII vintage, in actual use in a Veterans Day demonstration at the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas, last year.
I seem to recall that one of the fuels was “naptha.” Yes, it sprays a flaming liquid. The soldiers providing the demonstration actually “stormed” a model machine gun nest on the grounds, to demonstrate the weapon’s use. Effective range was about fifty to 75 feet, although if you weren’t picky, you could get it up to twice that (although you wanted a mighty large target, at that range. A building, say). Either way, it was not a marksman’s weapon. Not speedy, not precise, and barely portable. Definitely an area effect kind of thing.
The official line was that there were Japanese soldiers holed up on nearly every little island in the Pacific. The Japanese idea was to force some kind of settlement on the Americans by making the taking of these islands horrendously costly in resources and American lives.
The American response was to use flamethrowers to burn out the pillboxes and bunkers. Flame was applied to the bunker, as close to any viewing or ventilation holes as possible, then shut off. While the bunker sizzled, a grenade would be launched or thrown into any hole that could be found. Often the grenade was not necessary – any enemies in the bunker were either fried or suffocated – but it was cheap insurance. After the grenade detonation, the troops would then storm the bunker and eliminate any resistance.
At least, that’s the Nimitz Museum’s take on it, as provided by a buncha old WWII vets.
I don’t know about all this war business. A couple of years ago, my mother sent me into town to buy a dinghy so I could sort the duckweed out, and when I got back she was wielding with much aplomb this industrial sized flamethrower she’d bought at the local farmers’ market. I asked her why she had it and she said she had got fed up bending down to get the dandelions out between the cracks in the patio slabs and was instead burning them all with merry laughter.
So I suppose that’s a much less violent sort of use for one.
[hijack] About fifteen years ago, I was looking into exporting PCs to Hungary and to check the regulations, I went to Ottawa to see what was on the proscribed list of exportation. Among self-explanatory stuff listed (whaling equipment, NBC equipment, etc.), there was listed military flame throwers. I made me wonder if there was such a thing as a civilian flame thrower, maybe one of those old Bic lighter where you could adjust the flame [/hijack]
Flame throwers were used on all fronts of WWII. The most famous videos seen on PBS are of Pacific war usage, but they were used just as extensively in Europe, too.
As you would expect, they were generally used in close quarter combat - jungles, urban warfare, and that sort of thing. Flamethrower tanks were frequently used on the Eastern Front, especially ir urban fighting. They were of little value in battles fought beyond 50-100 yards, though.
Flame throwers were retired by the U.S. Army and other modern armies at least in part because the job of destroying bunkers and such has become substantially easier with the use of conventional weapons. TOW missiles and other types of armor-busting missile, guided weapons of all sorts, attack helicopters, and the proliferation of heavy weapons on infantry support vehicles has made bunker-busting flamethrowers superfluous.
I think what Zenpea is talking about would be considered a civilian flamethrower, detop.
Think of when there’s a big forest fire, and park officials have to burn an area around the fire to stop it from spreading (can’t remember the term for that) and they use flamethrowers to do it. Those flames aren’t 100ft long and meant to incinerate human life; it’s just a simple 5ft range giant lighter.
They used them all the time around where I grew up to keep the wild grass in check to avoid a real fire hazard. Nothing like the military ones the OP’s talking about.
You can buy flamethrowers at the farmers’ market? Hmmm… I see a new scene in Return of the King where Merry and Pippin make it back to the Shire only to be torched by Farmer Maggot.
In The Art Of War, Tsun Tsu has an entire chapter devoted to the use of fire as a weapon of war. Apparently, he thought very highly of it.
As I recall, and I admit I have no cite, the Chinese also had flamethrowers back in the swords & shields era. Similar to the Byzantine type, but mounted on a cart. Protected by wooden armor, it was used as a siege weapon.
Well, I think you can do all sorts of deals in the farmers’ markets. If someone has a old flamethrower knocking around, £20 will sort that out. I’ve never seen one, but my mother has a habit of dragging everyone’s sorry past out of the gutter and extracting the juicy bits to aid her gardening.
And don’t worry, it’s not a military one! It has a range of about two foot / three foot at most. Sort of like a particularly flamey blow-torch. But it takes care of the weeds.
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