Flamethrower

A flamethrower is a device used to project a constant, steady stream of fire. Military flamethrowers typically use streams of flammable liquid such as gasoline or diesel as their fuel, while civilian weed-burners and Hollywood props use safer and more controllable gas jets.

Flamethrowers saw their greatest military use during the two World Wars, where they were primarily used to assault structures and fortifications, as well as burn through dense jungle terrain.

History[]

The use of catapults to deliver pots containing incendiary mixtures is recorded as far back as the 9th century BC. The idea of a flame projection device originated in the 11th or 12th century AD with the use of copper siphons to direct Greek fire, an incendiary mixture first developed in the 7th century AD. The composition of Greek Fire has been lost to history: it was said to be able to burn even underwater. Fire-Lances using an early formulation of gunpowder which used honey rather than charcoal, producing a jet of flame rather than an explosion, were developed by the Chinese in the 10th century AD.

The modern backpack flamethrower first appeared prior to WW1, where various powers developed them as a means of assaulting trench lines: the first is generally thought to be a German design first submitted in 1901. By World War 2, the flamethrower was a staple of assault tactics, both man-portable and vehicle-mounted versions being employed, as well as defensive flame mines.

While in the media flamethrowers are often shown firing burning gas, this is mostly done for the safety of actors: real military flamethrowers used burning liquid fuel, usually gasoline or diesel, which was usually ignited at the muzzle by a small pilot torch. The ejection force for the stream of burning liquid was generally provided by a pressure tank of inert, high-pressure gas such as nitrogen. This is where the idea of a flamethrower exploding if shot comes from, as the fuel is not volatile enough to be ignited by a bullet.

The use of a pilot torch proved a problem in WW2, as it was discovered that in extremely cold conditions the pilot flame, usually from burning hydrogen, would become so small that the fuel would fail to ignite. Many WW2 flamethrowers have late-war variants that use pyrotechnic ignition cartridges instead, while Soviet flamethrowers used these throughout the war.

Another WW2 development was the flame fougasse. This was a British system originally designed in case of a full-scale invasion of the British Isles by Nazi Germany, with the idea being to embed oil drums part-filled with a mixture of petroleum and gas-oil calculated to be useless as a fuel into roadsides. An explosive charge was placed at the bottom of the drum, which on detonation would eject and ignite the mixture. The Soviet Union took interest in this concept and developed it further with their FOG-1 mine, a device resembling an old wood-fired stove which channelled the burning fuel through one or more right-angled pipes on the top to direct it at a specific area. This was directly copied by the Germans with the Abwehrflammenwerfer 42, and the same type of explosively compressed propulsion system would form the basis of the Einstossflammenwerfer 46. Postwar, the Soviets further developed the concept with the LPO-50.

It is a common myth that they were banned by international law, but this is not the case: their use ceased due to their obsolescence, with incendiary rocket launchers replacing them on the battlefield in the latter part of the 20th century.

List of military flamethrowers[]

American

Brazilian

Hydroar LC T1 M1

British

Harvey flamethrower
Home Guard flamethrower
Marsden flamethrower
Flamethrower, Portable, No.2

Chinese

Type 74 flamethrower
Type 02 flamethrower

German

Flammenwerfer M.16.
Wechselapparat 1917
Flammenwerfer 35
Flammenwerfer 40
Umgebaute Flammenwerfer 40
Flammenwerfer 41
Abwehrflammenwerfer 42
Flammenwerfer 43
Einstossflammenwerfer 46

Romanian

Argeș

Italian

Lanciafiamme Mod. 35
Lanciafiamme Mod. 41
Lanciafiamme Mod. 41 d'assalto
Pignone Model 1937
T-148/B flamethrower

Japanese

Type 93 flamethrower

Polish

K pattern flamethrower

Russian

ROKS flamethrower
LPO-50

In Russian, the term "flamethrower" (огнемет, "ognemet") also includes incendiary and thermobaric rocket launchers such as the RPO Rys and RPO-A Shmel.

Taiwanese

Type 67 flamethrower

Trivia[]

Flamethrower is a calque of the German word Flammenwerfer.