Flamethrower Q&A with Charlie Hobson
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2016
- www.flamethrowerexpert.com
You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here:
amzn.to/1SP9yc5
Rather than doing a monthly Q&A myself, I decided to take advantage of a visit from Charlie Hobson and answer some questions about flamethrowers. These questions all came from the Forgotten Weapons Patreon supporters, whose financial support is a big part of what allows me to bring you great content. If you'd like to help support the site yourself and also have a chance to get your questions into the monthly Q&A, you can join in at:
www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
Today's questions by timestamp are:
0:40 - After international conventions banned most flamethrower use, where and when have they still been used and why?
1:15 - What Hollywood examples are particularly realistic and which ones were the most fanciful (i.e. Aliens)?
3:02 - What was the most effective use in their history in combat?
3:55 - What is the common pressure and nozzle diameter for military flamethrowers?
4:57 - How effective were/are the use of fins inside the flow channel to create laminar flow?
6:18 - What are the chances of ignition of the fuel tank when hit by a rifle's bullet?
7:28 - Is a flamethrower-assigned soldier expected to do field maintenance on a level on par with a gun carrying soldier? What parts of a flamethrower wear down or require repair the most?
9:44 - Did they really use flamethrowers to clear the bunkers on Omaha beach as depicted in "Saving Private Ryan”?
10:52 - Is there anyone today making true-to-spec reproductions of military flamethrowers?
12:10 - How many accidents has he witnessed?
14:07 - In field campaigns, the Pacific for instance, how did field resupply of flamethrowers work, if at all? Were individuals tanks refilled by supply folks, or were fresh tanks brought up and exchanged?
19:35 - I'd like to hear about the effects on the shooter. I heard that some men passed out because of the drop in oxygen when firing.
20:32 - If the flamethrower had not been banned under the Geneva convention in 1980, what would have been the next design evolution? For example, improved tank storage, non-pietzo ignition systems, or different fuel mixtures (such as triethyaluminium instead of more traditional gelled petroleum).
24:10 - Is there still a role for flamethrowers in modern war?
26:35 - When lighting a cigar with a flamethrower, is there a concern about leaving a poor-tasting residue on the cigar as there is with cheap butane lighters?
27:43 - What does it cost to get into one of these?
Never thought I'd get an in-depth explanation on the mechanics of lighting a cigar with a flamethrower but now I have.
You gotta love Charlie's enthusiasm whenever a good question was asked. He's really just waiting for opportunities to share more about these things!
Also, Ian looks proud of the questioners every time Charlie mentions them. Excellent interview
Over the last few years there have been creeping changes to UA-cam affecting content and makers both. It's awesome to see some UA-camrs who I hold in high esteem manage to survive, and more than that, to bring new, interesting and as in these last few videos never before seen footage in addition to the excellent information which has also been largely lost. It's even more awesome to find people with such expertise and experience and to hear the words from their own mouth. The questions were pertinent and exceptionally well answered by Charlie, and I think Ian enjoyed hearing the answers as they filmed though he was no doubt in possession of many of those answers already. A wonderful meeting of minds and no doubt a lasting and rewarding friendship on both sides.
you are a specialist... you get smart and relevant questions... how not being amazed for people not being oblivious about your area.
This guy is one of the FEW people left alive that can service these things...apparently there are only 5-6 functional units left in the world, in the hands of collectors.
Seen Charlie on the Flamethrower episode of the Weapon Hunter....if you haven't seen it....go check it out !
Hemi204 My national guard unit found one in storage that was long forgotten in our armory 😂😂
i wonder if there's more people in Brazil. Flamethrowers are still used and designed in Brazil for active military use and it wasn't until the 1980s these american designs stopped being used and replaced with Brazilian ones.
You need to find the guy like this, but for tanks and artillary, and convince him to burn up a few grand in tax stamps.
This is an excellent series!
This is a pretty hot topic.
+Max Silva What can I say? I'm on fire.
+Eric Brown Well just watch out for the flamers, they'll burn you down out of spite.
Ba-dum tsh
@@pricklydingus8604 i ate chipotle last night. You could say i have... explosive diarrhea
Personally I always thought the most realistic flamethrower use on film was in the 1982 version of "The Thing" where an M2A1 is used with liquid kerosine fuel rather than the usual propane 'faux flamethrowers' - the cast rushing in after each use with 10 & 15lb CO2 extinguishers weren't acting - they really were trying to extinguish the flames!
"Maybe we'll just warm things up a little around here." -MacReady
i love old buggers.... someone needs to just do a series where they talk to war vets, home steaders, ETC and jsut get all the knowledge out of these old dudes before its too late.
+kain hall I treasure the history the old fogeys carry. Long been meaning to get a good portable recorder and meet with the few remaining veterans and survivors of all these Soviet on Finland wars that are in good enough condition to talk about it (living in Sweden). All of us need to act to keep these peoples tales alive, so much was been lost with my grandparents that we only remember a few war anecdotes from. Everybody have a unique personal tale.
+Mamiya645 that would be amazing.
not much info about the winter war
You're only that this way. There are a lot of great documentaries coming out for this very reason (Last days of Vietnam, Vanguard of the revolution and others) all coming out to document everything from those who did it.
+linglingjr My God did my phone's auto correct butcher my comment.
kain hall I love talking to old people because they have so much life experience and wisdom to go along with their knowledge.
Instead of bailing out the banks in 2008, we should have just lifted the mailslots on all the buildings on wall street and emptied one of these into them.
Yes please.
+GHOSTRIDER4991
I can't tell if you're joking or actually a serious anti-semite.
+GHOSTRIDER4991 Ironicly 70 years ago we were using flamethrowers on idiot facists sprouting the same kind of crap.
I believe Charlie accidentally said "Band of Brothers"' when he meant to say "Flags of Our Fathers" as the Clint Eastwood movie.
+The Bitwise Yeah, he did.
If you're going to nitpick, Those titles should be in italics, not quotes.
+linglingjr in spain we use the " for the titles :)
Nicolas Mora No, you're just uninformed. Use quotes for titles of songs and other small works but italics or underline big works like movies, books etc. Nice try though. Literally just Google it.
It was just for the sake of anyone who wanted to see the movie. I doubt they will mind.
I wonder if you could load the tanks with that silly string material.
The amount of information Charlie's got in his head is amazing. Awesome series of videos.
I could watch this guy for hours.
I guess I have watched him for an hour. Great interviews.
absolutely outstanding video, its a pleasure to listen to such an expert.
Hey Ian! Do you think you can get your hands on a WW2 russian flamthrower sometimes? Or at least talk about it? I heard they were made to resemble rifles, so I'm curious if that resulted in some unique ideas. Don't know if they ever got into the US, but would be nice to see one.
As a currently serving army infantryman, I wish we still had one for every two companies. It’s a nice weapon to have moving around with a light infantry unit in my opinion, especially since training is shifting from counter insurgency back to force vs force. Actually I just remembered that some guys in my unit found one of these things that had been long forgotten in some corner of a storage area at my armory 😂😂
The fact that this information is becoming available this easily is amazing. Thank you for everything you do Ian and thank you Charlie for making these with him.
Really enjoyed that, can't wait to see some of the other videos with Charlie Hobson.
Thanks for putting up the timestamps in the description, big help!
Was waiting for the follow-up, and it sure did deliver; answered quite a few lingering questions from the previous video. Nice work Ian!
Most entertaining Q&A here. The amount of knowledge being shared is outstanding and impressive. The way he gets excited and compliments the people asking the questions is awesome and Ian praising his subs/patrons is pretty awesome too.
I'd love to see more talks like this about different weapons. Also I'm hopefully going to RIA's next event!
When you go to the auction, just walk around asking the highest bidders of $100,000 guns "what do you do for a living" Please report back.
Only a minute and a half in and I know this is going to be worth watching. This stuff needs more views, it's really interesting stuff and I'm actually learning stuff I can apply to other things.
I was in Samarra with the 101 in 2008, and we used a bigass flamethrower hitched to a truck to burn down a couple miles of reeds, trying to flush out insurgents we knew to be hiding there. Took a lot of work to get it, from my understanding, and orders were that it was for equipment and environment only, kind of like the official purpose of the .50. But we know how that goes.
GruntBurger they tried that for destroying opium and marijuana fields in Afghanistan too, but it really doesn't work well.
Thank you for putting this presentation together. Please thank Mr.Hobson, for speaking on the topic of flamethrowers.
hard to keep this guy 'on-point', you were a very patient and audience conscious interviewer.
you really had to pry the actual answers to the questions out of him, only getting them after 3 or 4 more questions of your own... man i thought he'd never give up the secret on how operators would reload!
+Forgotten Weapons Kudos to Mr Hobson. Thank you for sharing your knowledge :)
Wonderful Q&A interview! Thanks Ian & Charlie.
I liked this Q&A so much, that i am going to support your channel on patreon. Please find more unique people like him and do more Q&As
Thanks for these wonderful videos. It answered a lot of common and some detailed questions in my mind as well.
Great episode! Thank you 👍🏻
Charlie: great guy and amazing resource. This channel is one of the most compulsively watchable things on YT. Thanks for the content!
Until 2007 the french army (foreign legion and 17th parachute engineer regiment) used man portable backpack flamethrower.
Thanks. Great segment. I think it's one of your best.
Charlie regularly visits a reenactment that my unit attends, his flame thrower demonstrations are awesome!
That was a great episode
Fantastic series!
I wish someone had asked him about the modern XM42 or X15 flamethrowers
I did off-camera; he has not looked at them.
ok
Me too
20:39 - If anything, I'd imagine the fast-moving jet of flaming fluid would tend to create a venturi effect and draw in _more_ oxygen from behind the shooter.
That was a really informative video. Thanks for the great content , I love your channel.
Excellent questions - very good answers. Especially taking non common weapon.
WOW! Great interview with an amazing guy. Well done.
Excellent expert analysis.
Charlie is a good dude. I sold him a couple flamethrower service kits I picked up surplus back in 2005. He's the only guy I could think of who could use them. :)
Great video, very entertaining and informative.
Very interesting, thank you very much.
25:48 Remember: Pillage, THEN Burn. :D
i got that Norinco joke Ian haha
I love this guy and hid devotion to that flamethrower, great q+a thanks!
You know, I'd love to see some modern production flamethrowers get shown off/ reviewed/ commented on; they basically are forgotten and unknown.
If we got the point where even infantry is protected by hard-kill active protection systems(AKA point defense or CIWS), possibly laser-based, that could make short work of slow, explosive projectiles, but might not work as well on streams of burning fuel.
And how do you purpose in getting remotely close to infantry protected by CIWS?
21:41 - One of the big uses for TEA nowadays is lighting big rocket engines, where you _really_ want reliable immediate ignition (if unburned kerosene and oxygen get a chance to pool in the combustion chamber and only _then_ ignite, the engine tends to explode).
Thank you, interesting video. It brought up some memories. In the '80s I served in the Hungarian Armed Forces in a flamethrower company. We used to use some russian flamethrowers but they worked a quiet different way. You couldn't use them periodically. There were three tanks, that meant three shots. One shot were a continous beam of napalm, it blurped out the whole tank when you pulled the trigger.
most creative way Ive found to light up, holding my cig end to the metal tip of a stihl leaf blower exhaust
blows a qaurter of you smoke away but itll light if you do it right
Happened to see Mr. Hobson on a show called Showdown of the Unbeatables. On Netflix if you are interested, episode 2.
Terrorpleodon Thanks for the tip.
I know this is a late response; but I think one of the more realistic use of a flamethrower in the movies was in this South Korean movie about the Korean War. They even mention and showed the realistic burn time of the weapon.
This guy knows his flammables
I would also assume they are not used in combat today because they are impractical. Combat nowadays almost never gets up close enough to be effective with a flamethrower since nobody uses pillboxes anymore, plus it runs out really quick and you would need a backup weapon which would be a lot to carry at once
I read that when they were making _Game of Thrones_ , a flamethrower flame was used as part of the effect of a dragon breathing fire.
How is this legal in a place like AZ? Surely it'll get the wildfire alarms blaring
22:26 No you're phone is not going off.
Remember using the FMC/John Bean high pressure system, with that pistol grip, at 1000 PSI water pressure, when I first joined the local rural fire department. Would only use about 40 GPM.
I believe the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons didn't ban flamethrowers, just restricted their use where civilians might be around. That mostly applies to dropping napalm and hosing out buildings with a flamethrower. The US military mostly switched to fuel-air explosives (man portable or delivered) which are just as effective at clearing out bunkers.
+RonJohn63 The popular term is Thermobaric weapon and you can pack one into the same package as a HEAT warhead, Overpressure is particularly nasty in confined spaces, just like monoxide.
The 4-tube M202 FLASH explicitly replaced wand type flamethrowers and the A1 model is currently available in Afghanistan. Russians of course use the RPO family of flame rockets.
RonJohn63 they use powdered metal such as aluminum or magnesium instead of liquid fuel. That way they can be far lighter than liquid fuel devices. It can be scaled down as small as a 40mm grenade. There are also traditional hand grenade sized ones and man portable rockets. They are usually marked as NE warheads for "Novel Explosive".
This is outstanding. Could you find someone as knowledgeable and willing to teach about mortars?
Hey Ian, your Norinco joke was funny
Long ago I read in a broadsheet UK newspaper about a police riotsquad using "humane flamethrowers". Neither I nor the reporter could see how a flamethrower could be humane, and I left it aside as one of the many silly things that people say. Many years later in Wikipedia I found that that meant filling a flamethrower with teargas dissolved 1/200 in water and not with burnable fuel. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converted_Flamethrower_40
Oh yeah, blowtorch and corckscrew baby!
I got 3 dollars and some chewing gum can i have that japanese version
If you were going to build a modern one, couldn't you use carbon fiber tanks and a pressure bottle from one of the modern high powered air rifles? You'd surely end up with enough gas pressure for multiple refills off the main tanks that way?
carbon fiber and fire don't mix well.
Executing file iexplorere.exe Neither does paper thin steel under pressure.
Do you have one of the original boxes you could show?
I should have known Deviant Ollam would watch something like Forgotten Weapons where ingenuity is often displayed even if there was a commercial failure. Since he moved to a free state he's been interested in hacking firearms, and where better to look for inspiration than the thousands of weapons that didn't find continued utility as the years march on. You should get him to show you his five AR configurations for all eventualities. A meeting of interesting minds ;)
Deviant is a good friend of mine. :)
@@ForgottenWeapons You're both lucky chaps in that case. Two of my favourite people to listen to and learn from, though until recently in wildly different disciplines!
Next you'll be making videos of you blagging your way past security and diddling the bank manager's safe ;)
Hey Ian,
what do you think would happen if a flamethrower was hit by a burst of bullets with tracers? Almost every machine gun used belts with tracers in them and they are hot enough to light things like grass on fire. Would those tracers be enough to ignite the chemicals inside?
Grüße from Germany
It's a possibility, but I would say an API (Armor Piercing Incendiary) may prove to have higher efficacy.
32:44 - I am curious, and slightly afraid, to know what a police department wanted a flamethrower for.
In WWII, the Nazis thought up a lot of Flametanks (AFVs equipped with flamethrowers), and also used flamethrowers against tanks. The British thought of that as well. I imagine that would have been brutal...
Holy crap, I just realized how this thing is almost identical to single action airbrush.
Remember: No gasoline!
Someone smart once said "stop making everything also a flamethrower".
Well also if you just want to shot flames, there is the modern production X Matter one. It uses CO2 tanks and costs about $2k. There is also the Ion one for about $1k, but that is more of a fire squirt gun, ha. Still good for taking weeds of out cracks in the driveway.
What was the nozzle diameter of the Flammenwerfer 41?
Does the image of the flame-thrower operator in thick garments like welding leathers and gauntlets, and wearing a gas-mask as a matter of course, have any basis in reality? It shows up all the time in video games, but I can't recall seeing it in a historical source.
+Lazarus Long You know,I don't think I have either but noticed it in movies and games too. A lot of that probably is most people that make video games most likely get most of their knowledge from books,not practical experience.And they also probably get the gloves etc.,from relating it to something they do have practical knowledge of,a torch. They think (Idk for sure just guessing lol) that because a torch is hot the flame thrower with the "bigger" flame is really hot,but the torch is more concentrated meant to cut steel.The flame thrower is just meant to set stuff on fire. Like I said,Idk for sure,but I've noticed in games and movies and such that they do stuff with guns,which I do know about,that doesn't jive with what I know.You know,like you have to shoot the guys in the certain uniform or whatever two or three times in the chest with an AK before they die,stuff like that lol But yeah I now a lot of them do consulting and all that,especially the more high budget they are,but in any kind of entertainment like that,even if they do know better,they depend on most people don't.
@@The10mmcure Flamethrower enemies look like that in games so you can recognize them when you see them, its a question of visual design. IRL flamethrower troops usually just looked like regular infantrymen and combat engineers but there was a tendency to use goggles, gloves, scarfs or masks to protect from heat. Some troops in Vietnam I saw wore towels wet with water.
I heard the phone vibrating in the background that is a first ;') Was it right next to the camera?
I think that guy should host a childrens' television program called "Mr. Hobson's Neighborhood." I envision it being similar in style to the long-running Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, except instead of having him change into sneakers and cardigans, he'd merely strap on a flamethrower. Mr. McFeely, the delivery man? He'd be replaced by Mr. Osaka, whom Mr. Hobson could reflexively incinerate every week. Trolly? That'd be replaced with Sherman. The Neighborhood of Make-Believe? That one would remain the same. Mr. Hobson would pop his head into the miniature kingdom every week, and the bit would be that they were JUSSSSSSST finishing the repairs and burying the dead from his last week's visit with his flame thrower. He'd begin with an interesting factoid about the PSI of the model he was carrying that week, and then FOOOOOOSH! He'd reduce it to ashes again.
Does this guy know anything about byzantine flamethrowers shooting greek fire? How far back can forgotten weapons go? He should do one on the chu ko no (that magazine-fed repeating chinese crossbow from age of empires).
Modern day, there ARE protocols for CO poisoning. including and not limited to High Flow O2, CPAP/BIPAP, and most definitive is a hyperberic chamber. Each can reduce the effects by a fraction, all the way to as low as 30 minutes to full recovery. I do understand this is modern day, not WWII field treatments. Just a correction to previous statements.
I suppose the logical follow up questions are: how quickly do you need to begin the treatment after poisoning, and is it possible to do them in the field today?
It depends on concentration and exposure time. ASAP is the best. As a paramedic, we try to impliment them when we recognise it. Since CO replaces O2 on the hemoglobin. Depends on the state, and local protocols
At about 22 minutes. What style flamethrower is he talking about? I'm really curious if there are any examples of the thing.
The rocket launcher he is talking about is the M202 Flash.
I have a question, what if a fire starts in the fuel tank, like I dunno, a missfire or something to stair a fire in the tank container.
Wow, that guy sure likes flamethrowers!
Is he thinking of Flags of Our Fathers instead? He called Band of Brothers a Clint Eastwood movie but I don't think they used flamethrowers even once in that series.
is the first person askedt he question , the devialt ollam , the pentester/lockpicker guy ??
"You'll kill 71 friends"
"And yourself"
"Yes"
The British Vets I've spoken to about flamethrowers didnt like them. Not for any safety reasons but because it made them a priority target and the also if your where captured then you would be shot.
10:28 - Bad news _for historical accuracy,_ that is. Good news for the Germans in those real-life bunkers who were probably quite glad that they weren't flamethrowered...
search YT for "man burnt alive". it's on a channel called " war archives". I'm not disagreeing with the expert, but at 1:30 in the clip there is a walking person on fire. maybe this was rare but certainly possible.
+mercoid He may have been caught in the flames after the weapon had been discharged. Like he was in some position that didn't get directly hit, but he was caught in the blaze. Thats why the combat cameraman was able to capture it.
The next iteration is like a paintball gun but you light the balls on fire and instead of paint its some explosive
ROKS flamethrowers ( Soviet Union ), check it out.
it's also the secret recipe for KFC
what about the flame broiled whopper from burger king?
Different fuel
+Johnny T Doe Do KFC use Napalm :)
+Exploatores solid fuel makes a crispy coating!
guy reminds me of my dad
Flamethrowers were used extensively in the 1973 war.
Lol. Well done
I wonder what the noise level is, when firing one of these? I'd imagine they're fairly quiet.
Not true, I personally haven't fired a flamethrower but I can tell you fire escaping a nozzle is not quiet
+BoZoiD57 I see, thank you for replying.
Thermobaric weapons are the future. They are much more versatile compared to flamethrowers.
+AldanFerrox sadly I think your right, but there is a "cool" factor with an Flamethrower
And incredibly demoralizing when men see their friends with pieces of their lungs coming out of their mouths.
Or try homemade m2 flamethrower