Fire Bombs (aka Geletrol or Napalm) and Incendiary Bombs

[pyro-manic]

Ok, here's a challenge for all you ordnance experts. Does anyone have a photo or drawing of British napalm bombs? I've seen a very poor quality Youtube video of one being dropped by a Hurricane or Typhoon (can't remember which, but it was a Hawker machine), but that's it. I'm wondering what sort of shape they were, how big, etc.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Ok, here's a challenge for all you ordnance experts. Does anyone have a photo or drawing of British napalm bombs? I've seen a very poor quality Youtube video of one being dropped by a Hurricane or Typhoon (can't remember which, but it was a Hawker machine), but that's it. I'm wondering what sort of shape they were, how big, etc.

Google results provided a youtube video of a WWII Hawker Tempest test dropping napalm via Wikipedia which may very well be the same video you mentioned.  There is an illustration of a WWII era fire bomb on the Hawker Tempest Page that may be of use to you. 

For what its worth, most of the fire bombs used during this period (WWII, Korea, Malaysian Crisis, and Aden) looked pretty much like a standard fuel tank and the only way to tell the difference between them was one carried fuel for the airplane and the other one was rigged with an arming wire and ignition fuze that in most cases fit into the opening used by the filling cap. 

Now if you are looking at something more recent I would suggest taking a look at the small fuel tanks carried by the Harrier and Hunter which are very similar in size and shape to the standard RAF fire bombs used on high speed aircraft.  The attached image shows a UK type fire bomb attached to a US Navy A-4 at China Lake NOTS back in the day.  Notice the small stabilizing fins at the rear of the weapon.  If you happen to have any Harrier or Hunter kits in the stash you may well have these shapes on hand. 

[Mossie]

Alun, Pavla do some RAF 45 Gallon Napalm cannisters in 1/72, the set contains a few other useful things too.
http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=PAVW7239

I know that in the sixties timeframe you're looking at for your Sandfly, the RAF were using 100 gallon Napalm tanks on Hunters.  The last pic at the bottom of this PDF file that mentions them, basically they are standard 100 gallon fuel tanks.
http://82.149.225.246/AirProfile/004%20The_Hawker_Hunter_F_6%5BAircraft%20Profile%202004%5D.pdf

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Ok, here's a challenge for all you ordnance experts. Does anyone have a photo or drawing of British napalm bombs? I've seen a very poor quality Youtube video of one being dropped by a Hurricane or Typhoon (can't remember which, but it was a Hawker machine), but that's it. I'm wondering what sort of shape they were, how big, etc.

Never realized what a challenge it would be to ask a simple question on some of the other forums.  The results have been mixed, some helpful replies but the rest seem to focus on politics, government policies, and international agreements for the use of such weapons.  Sadly the replies have been devoid of any useful images so far but I did get a reply via eMail from Hyperscale to my query which may be of some use. 
Here is his reply:

"although it was Spitfire and Mustangs that dropped petrol bombs in the final stages of the war in Northern Italy, the bombs themsleves were Hurricane 45(sic) Gallon drop tanks, ignited by phosphorus grenades. the grenade safety pins were wired to the bomb racks so the tank was primed as it fell away behind the aircraft"

as far as it goes, I think this was pretty standard, ie modifying drop tanks.  The RAF used the 3" rocket for 20 years! I think that Seahwak in Suez dropped napalm,  so again, I think modified drop tanks.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Found an image showing four different types of WWII and Korean War-Indochina War era fire bombs as used by the United States Navy that you can see attached image.  The weapons are all based on the standard drop tanks as used by the Navy on the Corsair, Hellcat, Ventura-Harpoon, and Skyraider.  These weapons would also have been available for use by other nations flying these aircraft.  

Description:

Transcribed from:
(United States Navy) Bureau of Ordnance Pamphlet Number OP 1664 (Volume 1)
U.S. Explosive Ordnance, 28 May 1947),
Classified Confidential (declassified on 06.05.2009 by NARA under NND34869.)  

Jettisonable fuel tanks ("Fire Bombs")

General: The "fire bomb" consists of a jettisonable fuel tank filled with gasoline gel (gasoline-Napalm mixture).  These bombs have been effective against personnel, wooden piers, infmammable stores, etc., with each bomb covering an area approximately 100 feet (30 meters) by 300 feet (90 meters).  
Various types of jettisonable fuel tans are available for conversion into fire bombs.  A 150 gallon (567.8 liter) universal or interchangeable tank has been produced.  Stabilizers have been designed to give the fire bomb a more stable flight when dropped from a higher altitude.  The stabilizers are attached to the present tanks by a harness consisting of four cables which run along the longitudinal axis of the tank and are attached to a ring fitted around the nose.  The universal tank has clips welded to the after end, obviating the necessity of the nose ring and cable harness.  

Filler: The filler is a gasoline-Napalm mixture.  Napalm consists of a mixture of basic aluminum soaps, of fatty acids, and napthenic acid, which in itsef is inert and is used onl to congeal the gasoline to the proper consistency.  Either 100 octane or 80 octane gasoline can be used, with 6 percent Napalm by weight added for the mixture.  Another powder, Marinco, consisting of 50 percent magnesium carbonate and 50 percent calcium carbonate, is added (7 percent of Napalm by weight) to prevent clogging in the outlet hose.  The Navy has developed the Incendiary Mixtures Mk.1 Mod 0 and Mk.1 Mod 1, whic mix the gasoline and Napalm in the correct proportions.  

Igniters: The stabilizer kits include a clamp for attaching an igniter which is in addition to the fuel-tank cap igniter.  The igniters M13, M14, M15, and M16 are used.

[Daryl J.]

Had such a thing been invented by the end of WW-1?

TIA,
Daryl J.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Had such a thing been invented by the end of WW-1?

Daryl,

If you develop your back story/history to make it work, you could get by with small wooden kegs strapped under the fuselage or go with beverage bottles filled with a flammable liquid and claim that it was Greek Fire bombs or some such thing.  Here are a few links to Molotov cocktails, Greek fire, and other subjects on flame or incendiary type weaons:

Wikipedia - Molotov Cocktail
Article on the Molotov Cocktail by William Trotter, Author of "A Frozen Hell"
Battles of the Winter War - Anti-tank weapons used by the Finns in the Winter War
Wikiipedia - Greek Fire
Stronghold Heaven Games - History of Greek Fire
Greece.org - History of Greek Fire
Wikipedia - Fougasse Flame Weapon
Wikipedia - Richard Fiedler
Wikipedia - White Phosphorus
Wikipedia - Early thermal weapons
Wikipedia - Napalm

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The attached image was scanned from the Warbird Tech book on the B-25 (PBJ) Mitchell.  I felt it was worth sharing since it involves modifying a standard fuel drum for use as a fire bomb.  I find the addition of a standard general purpose bomb fin assembly for stabilizing the drum after release to be rather interesting.  I have read of this previously in other publications and documents about the use of fuel drums such as this being used as expedient fire bombs.  This is the first time I have ever come across an image of such a device.  The image was not of the best quality to start with but you can see the reinforcing straps for the bomb fin assembly that attach it to the end of the fuel drum.  What is more difficult to discern is the additional straps around the circumference of the fuel drum that will be used to attach it to bomb release shackles in the bomb bay.

While my stock of 1/48th scale fuel drums is quite small I am certainly intrigued enough by this image to try and create a couple of these things just to see how it will turn out. 

[dy031101]

Wikipedia - Molotov Cocktail

Wikipedia - RRAB-3

Molotov Cocktail was meant to go with this bread basket, which in addition to the HE warhead in its tail also sprays incendiary bomblets.



***Added image from wikipedia***jjf

[ChernayaAkula]

Wikipedia - RRAB-3
Molotov Cocktail was meant to go with this bread basket, which in addition to the HE warhead in its tail also sprays incendiary bomblets.

What the.....? And there I was, thinking I had come up with something new when I thought about such a device for a planned Ma.K. build. 

[dy031101]

What the.....? And there I was, thinking I had come up with something new when I thought about such a device for a planned Ma.K. build. 

I can give no other advise than not to let that stop you. 

[GTX]

The attached image was scanned from the Warbird Tech book on the B-25 (PBJ) Mitchell.  I felt it was worth sharing since it involves modifying a standard fuel drum for use as a fire bomb.  I find the addition of a standard general purpose bomb fin assembly for stabilizing the drum after release to be rather interesting.  I have read of this previously in other publications and documents about the use of fuel drums such as this being used as expedient fire bombs.  This is the first time I have ever come across an image of such a device.  The image was not of the best quality to start with but you can see the reinforcing straps for the bomb fin assembly that attach it to the end of the fuel drum.  What is more difficult to discern is the additional straps around the circumference of the fuel drum that will be used to attach it to bomb release shackles in the bomb bay.

While my stock of 1/48th scale fuel drums is quite small I am certainly intrigued enough by this image to try and create a couple of these things just to see how it will turn out. 

Brilliant - imagine a whole loadout of them!

Regards,

Greg

[rickshaw]

The attached image was scanned from the Warbird Tech book on the B-25 (PBJ) Mitchell.  I felt it was worth sharing since it involves modifying a standard fuel drum for use as a fire bomb.  I find the addition of a standard general purpose bomb fin assembly for stabilizing the drum after release to be rather interesting.  I have read of this previously in other publications and documents about the use of fuel drums such as this being used as expedient fire bombs.  This is the first time I have ever come across an image of such a device.  The image was not of the best quality to start with but you can see the reinforcing straps for the bomb fin assembly that attach it to the end of the fuel drum.  What is more difficult to discern is the additional straps around the circumference of the fuel drum that will be used to attach it to bomb release shackles in the bomb bay.

While my stock of 1/48th scale fuel drums is quite small I am certainly intrigued enough by this image to try and create a couple of these things just to see how it will turn out. 

From the size of it, it looks like about a 20 Gallon drum.  So be careful you don't go making the mistake of using a 44 Gallon (200 lt) drum.  I'd recommend using in 1/48, 1/72 44 Gallon drums to represent the 20 gallon drum.

Seems like a sensible idea actually, although I wonder about the real utility of adding fins that small to it.  The flat nose would tend to make it rather inaccurate even with the fins on.