I learned something new today. I had never considered what it would take to fire a flare out of a pressurized aircraft, much less knew that these flare guns even existed.
My mother used to tell me how, may times, she'd seen USAAF aircraft with bits missing trying to make it into RAF Thurliegh (near Bedford) and firing off sequences of flares to tell the ambulance crews how many injured they had on board. British aircraft from RAF Tempsford, which was dressed up to look derelict so that German spies wouldn't recognise it as the source of all the flights supporting Western European resistance movements, would only use radios in desperate circumstances, because the Germans were doing direction-finding to locate British airbases and even coded messages could give too much away. Schoolboys could earn small rewards for handing in bits of damaged aircraft that had fallen off during landing approaches! The "Pilot's Notes" for both the Westland Whirlwind fighter and earlyish Spitfires, describe a magazine-fed flare "gun" fired by a toggle over the pilot's head. I don't think there was any choice of colour for these one you were airborne!
Matthew Spencer the AA gunners at Tempsford could even open fire on German aircraft even if they were bombing the airfield, such was the secrecy of RAF Tempsford. During WW2 flares were used as identification markers, different colours and numbers of flares were used each day.
@Léo Mutombo : It is seriously best not to follow Leo's link. He curses you unless you leave a "like", and I do not respond well to blackmail, of this or any other nature.
@@ZacLowing Several actually, its just such a common trope that movies now avoid it. Examples like return to never land, Narnia, and even a few obscure examples have given bits here in there. Its just difficult to do a full fledged movie on, as it needs substance beyond the war.
thats why I like this channel, it shows something different. That flare gun seems like its is over engineered, but then if there is a risk of decompression I would want it over engineered.
Everything for use with aircraft's is over engineered and has redundancies built in. Especially old aircraft engines, they have multiple magneto's and redundant components built in so if one thing fails, you have a backup.
I don't think having an opening that size would actually be a problem. Pressurized aircraft aren't sealed anyways, they just constantly pump in more air to maintain the pressure. Even modern airliners are like that. The flare gun couldn't contribute more than a few percent to the overall air leakage. More likely, though, it would simply be difficult to load due to the pressure differential; the breech would take a bit of force to open and the rushing air would essentially be trying to close it the entire time you're fumbling around there. Add the issue of limited dexterity in your fingers due to the cold and you're going to spend a lot of time trying to load it. Much better to just seal it off.
@@wurfyy based on the numbers from the website post on this, at 30,000ft you're losing 250 liters of air a minute. that's quite a lot of air to be pumping to 6.5psi over atmospheric, but each turbo on a B29 is pumping 38,500 liters of air per minute into the engine anyways, so i don't think the aircraft would miss it. but returning from a raid you might have any multitude of shrapnel holes, so having hole pre-drilled isn't going to make things better. not necessarily worse, small hole in a big ship, but best not to have them. you are right that a large (and probably primary) issue would be trying to reload. the pressure differential would make removing a spent flare practically impossible from a mounted gun, thus this development.
@@wyattroncin941 from your example,on the B-29,the bomb bay was "habitable",crew work there,and more crew had to cross to the tail section from the front and viceversa. so,when you open the bombing doors obviously you will loose all the presurization,and the solution was instaling a tube as a passage from cabin to bomb bay,a little more wide than a person,and this way you will not loose too much pressure on the front.maybe avoiding the need of oxigen mask,i dont know. so the volume of air provided to the cabin must be pretty high.
I kinda miss the Julia backdrop. The Morphy one looks so austere, the Julia one always had some kind of period poster or ad in the back and generally felt a bit "19th century pomp and flair."
I'm basicly not intressted in shooting. Still I have watched hundreds of Ians videos just for the interesting mechanicals. Keep up the good work making interesting videos.
u Jehovah's witnesses should join the mormons but the maxims mormons dont like abominations so i guess u cant. maybe prestons Presbyterians will help u lol umm i guess rail road would be levelers an the institute the catholics lol can i get a college degree for this lol
if you pointed that thing at a target in a range, my first thought wouldn't be "thats gonna launch a ball of flame down range" its "every target is gonna get melted with microwave radiation" XD
It occurs that one of the main reasons for the need to load into the pressure sealed breech, with the lug locked into the aircraft wall, is to avoid having to ever chamber a flare with the pistol 'inside' the aircraft? Negligent discharge of a flare inside an airplane looks like a really bad idea.
Let's agree to disagree. It's a boring gun with a generic history that gave birth to a mediocre gun that is a slog to carry and operate made more boring because it's German over-engineering.
This is nothing short of fascinating! Thank you for stressing the importance of flares in aerial attacks, it's nice to know what it's actual use was. Was great to see a piece of military tech that's not a weapon per say.
Great pick for a video of a true forgotten weapon! I have never seen or heard anything regarding this type of flare gun. This is a must see for anyone interested in military aviation history. Well done sir!
A very interesting foray in the work necessary to adapt weapons to aircraft use... and that makes all the more desirable some presentation of machine guns used in planes.
They were also extensively used to help get formations together in the first place. Some of the larger bombing raids of WWII had hundreds to a thousand bombers all having to group into their smaller groups all taking off from many different airfields and over a fairly long period of time. It was a massive challenge to get these formations together and sometimes bombers never even found their smaller group.
"Okay, they keep dropping the flare guns out the window.. ""Okay, they started shooting the flares inside the plane & exploding... """OKAY, the air gets sucked out....
These were also used to start a formation, the formation leader aircraft could set off a flare with a specific colour and everyone who was told to form up on that colour could visually see the aircraft they should get behind. Telling that through the radio would be horribly impractical and messy, you need to quickly tell the right people "follow me, im your formation leader", flares do that perfectly.
This gun really reminds me of Rowland White‘s book Vulcan 607, which describes the first long range bombing raid from Ascension Island against Port Stanley airfield during the Falklands War. During the first refuelling bracket, the crew aboard the Vulcan can’t figure out which of the 11 Victor tankers flying in formation with them they‘re supposed to refuel from. The crew in the Victor in question had to fire off two flares before the Vulcan crew spotted them, probably using guns just like those two. I highly recommend the book by the way. Interesting stuff, and superbly written.
Everyone should check out “muster planes”. Weaponless aircraft painted in crazy patterns and colors that were easy to see. They would take off before each wing and every wing had an assigned muster plane to gather at as it circled the airfield firing flares like mad. Each muster plane would have a different color of flare for their flight. Once the wing was together the muster plane would wave off and return to the landing field. Ground crews had complete autonomy for their wacky patterns and there’s some really cool ones
Flares did alot in planes. Some even had their own launcher built in and had multi colors and barrels. To ad to Ian. You would also launch flares in a certain series of colors so that the AA gunners wouldn't blast you out of the air while trying to land.
PCP's were used in the V-Force bombers of Royal Air Force Strike Command. The Valient, Vulcan and Victor. They were used in the refuelling Victors of 55 and 57 Suadrons based from RAF Marham during the first Gulf war. I serviced them in the Station Armoury there during 1984.
As I have a special interest of WWII this is extremely informative. This channel never ceases to amaze. thank you so much. I had no idea of this signaling device.
Twelve O’Clock High has an excellent demonstration of how flares were used to signal ground crews while bombers were still in the air waiting to land. In fact it’s right in the beginning of the film.
Interesting piece of kit!! Would like to know on what aircraft this was used on. IIRC, the only Allied pressurized bomber of the war was the B-29. Only a few specialized high-altitude fighters had pressurization. This would have been a cumbersome process in a single seater. Wonder if this might not actually be from the post-war period. Looks like something that would be fitted to a Canberra or Meteor F8. Edit: near as I can tell, the Brits had two variants of Spitfire that were pressurized, and looking at cockpit photos will show you that there isnt much room in there. Anyway, put this question out into the aviation community.
I love the "(Quite Unusual)" tag you added to the end of the video title. You know if Ian thinks it's weird then it's definitely going to be interesting. Thanks for another fantastic video.
Because Lancaster bombers are a type of British plane piloted by RAF pilots in WW2 and that very scenario was brought up and dismissed by the video, legitimising the creation of this device.
Further to this there is a wartime propoganda film Target For Tonight, Wellington bombers though, showingthe use of flare guns, just bog standard type.
Only one aircraft during WW2 had a pressurized interior. The American B-29 used against Japan. I think it's more of locking it to airframe so as not to be interfered with aircrafts slipstream. Something of this nature seems more what it is. You still make awesome vids. Very informative. Thank u.
Flares were used by Pathfinders who were designated, experienced, skilled pilots, usually in Lancaster’s and Mosquitos who would find and identify a target for the following crews to bomb. This improved accuracy. Different colours of flares marked primary, secondary or reserve targets. However, these weren’t pressurised planes. Still, firing from a plane flying at 200knots couldn’t be done by winding down the window.
G'day Ian. Very interesting flare pistols. I have an unrelated question and didn't know where to ask it. I happened upon 3 of your older videos of presentations to AFTE conferences on Proof Marks, Clips and Magazines, and High Speed Photography. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Do you have any more such presentations on video? Thanks.
Very interesting. I knew that planes carried flares for signalling. Never knew or thought about having to fire one at high altitude from a pressurized cabin.
Another use of flare guns by aircraft was identification when passing over friendly lines or locations like bases defended by AA. Individual AA units usually didn't have radio connections with aircraft, so they had to have a way of identifying friendly planes before they were so close that they could be identified from their type or markings, which would have been particularly difficult at night.
From what I heard, the large british bombers (Lancaster, Halifax ect) did not have pressurized cabins. They used oxygene masks at high altitude. As did the B17 btw. So I ussume those flare devices are from post WW2 jet bombers, like the Vulcan. Since all crown owned (like military kit) items were religiously stamped with the crow foot (arrow) and year, it should be easy to see when they came into service.
0:46 - Granted, not all high-altitude bombers _had_ pressurized fuselages. As late as World War II, most strategic bombers had unpressurized fuselages where the crew wore oxygen masks throughout the mission - which actually makes quite a bit of sense, since a pressurized fuselage has to be heavier, repeated cabin-pressurization cycles produce all sorts of interesting fatigue problems (especially with aluminium alloys like those used for most metal aircraft, which are among the most-fatigue-prone metals that have ever been used for the primary structure of anything), and providing all that pressurized air requires an air compressor, which generally has to be driven from the engines, which can be a significant drain on the engines' useful power output when we're talking about WWII-era piston engines.
STI/ARM/84, refers to a "Special Technical Instruction" and is a modification or fix issued by the RAF/MOD/War Ministry for different equipment, the ARM obviously means armament, and the 84 is the issue number of the STI.
The much awaited second episode in the gun yoga series. On a more serious note, is there a mechanism that prevents the opened breach assembly to be rotated back down again?
I learned something new today. I had never considered what it would take to fire a flare out of a pressurized aircraft, much less knew that these flare guns even existed.
one day everything I learned on this channel will come handy. FTR I never held a single firearm in my hands.
@alexm566 Visit a gum range and rent one! It's tons of fun. (Or take a trip to the US if you don't live there lol!)
My mother used to tell me how, may times, she'd seen USAAF aircraft with bits missing trying to make it into RAF Thurliegh (near Bedford) and firing off sequences of flares to tell the ambulance crews how many injured they had on board. British aircraft from RAF Tempsford, which was dressed up to look derelict so that German spies wouldn't recognise it as the source of all the flights supporting Western European resistance movements, would only use radios in desperate circumstances, because the Germans were doing direction-finding to locate British airbases and even coded messages could give too much away. Schoolboys could earn small rewards for handing in bits of damaged aircraft that had fallen off during landing approaches!
The "Pilot's Notes" for both the Westland Whirlwind fighter and earlyish Spitfires, describe a magazine-fed flare "gun" fired by a toggle over the pilot's head. I don't think there was any choice of colour for these one you were airborne!
Matthew Spencer the AA gunners at Tempsford could even open fire on German aircraft even if they were bombing the airfield, such was the secrecy of RAF Tempsford.
During WW2 flares were used as identification markers, different colours and numbers of flares were used each day.
@Léo Mutombo : It is seriously best not to follow Leo's link. He curses you unless you leave a "like", and I do not respond well to blackmail, of this or any other nature.
I want a WW2 movie with stories like these. All the non bang heros, even school kids.
@@ZacLowing Several actually, its just such a common trope that movies now avoid it. Examples like return to never land, Narnia, and even a few obscure examples have given bits here in there. Its just difficult to do a full fledged movie on, as it needs substance beyond the war.
@@ZacLowing ever seen Dunkirk?
thats why I like this channel, it shows something different. That flare gun seems like its is over engineered, but then if there is a risk of decompression I would want it over engineered.
Everything for use with aircraft's is over engineered and has redundancies built in. Especially old aircraft engines, they have multiple magneto's and redundant components built in so if one thing fails, you have a backup.
I don't think having an opening that size would actually be a problem. Pressurized aircraft aren't sealed anyways, they just constantly pump in more air to maintain the pressure. Even modern airliners are like that. The flare gun couldn't contribute more than a few percent to the overall air leakage.
More likely, though, it would simply be difficult to load due to the pressure differential; the breech would take a bit of force to open and the rushing air would essentially be trying to close it the entire time you're fumbling around there. Add the issue of limited dexterity in your fingers due to the cold and you're going to spend a lot of time trying to load it. Much better to just seal it off.
@@wurfyy based on the numbers from the website post on this, at 30,000ft you're losing 250 liters of air a minute. that's quite a lot of air to be pumping to 6.5psi over atmospheric, but each turbo on a B29 is pumping 38,500 liters of air per minute into the engine anyways, so i don't think the aircraft would miss it. but returning from a raid you might have any multitude of shrapnel holes, so having hole pre-drilled isn't going to make things better. not necessarily worse, small hole in a big ship, but best not to have them.
you are right that a large (and probably primary) issue would be trying to reload. the pressure differential would make removing a spent flare practically impossible from a mounted gun, thus this development.
Y
@@wyattroncin941 from your example,on the B-29,the bomb bay was "habitable",crew work there,and more crew had to cross to the tail section from the front and viceversa.
so,when you open the bombing doors obviously you will loose all the presurization,and the solution was instaling a tube as a passage from cabin to bomb bay,a little more wide than a person,and this way you will not loose too much pressure on the front.maybe avoiding the need of oxigen mask,i dont know.
so the volume of air provided to the cabin must be pretty high.
found my new concealed carry
Oh my god he's got a- the hell is that thing?
Is there an officer, Problem? :D
TSA: "uuh....what's that?"
Core Cheng: "it's ok, its for use in a pressurised cabin..."
You'll be having trouble staying "concealed" after you use *this* thing, but what the hell, I like the idea :)
I'm not sure if it's lethal or legal, but I'd like to see the look on a criminals face when you touch that baby off.
"Flare pistols aren't really my specialty."
Ah yes, Ian only specializes in the universal communicator.
I kinda miss the Julia backdrop. The Morphy one looks so austere, the Julia one always had some kind of period poster or ad in the back and generally felt a bit "19th century pomp and flair."
I agree, but Morphy has that sweet FG-42 in the 2nd slot there so they get bonus points
Bet those pistols make a neat sound when opened or closed at altitude!
Nice hiss.
@@MassLox Steve?
Unless you open the breech early, then I imagine it's less neat, at least for those aboard anyway
the roar of the engines kinda drone out everything.
MassLox You just made my day!
Thats not a flare pistol, that's a Gamma Gun.
😂😂😂
I was just about to say something similar haha.
Damn reference accuracy...
But the truth is...
My line was stolen from the start.
Theoreticaly you could shoot radioactive material with it....
Ya, I immediately realized they probably stole the idea for the gamma gun from seeing theese
“It’s the gun that’s weird.”
-Ian
That thing looks like it would belong in Wolfenstein lol.
yeah i thought the same when i first saw the thumbnail
Or you could see it in Star Wars
your wrong
Or fallout xD
Im two hours late :)
I'm basicly not intressted in shooting. Still I have watched hundreds of Ians videos just for the interesting mechanicals. Keep up the good work making interesting videos.
Any chance those had a cameo in Star Wars?
Probably.
Stop that ship, blast em!
@@Tounushi I thought the jawa rifle was a cut down Lee Enfield
@@Snowman1510ify it is. A cut down SMLE with a rifle grenade adapter
WOOTINI!!
Do you have a minute for our lord atom?
B E D I V I D E D
u Jehovah's witnesses should join the mormons but the maxims mormons dont like abominations so i guess u cant. maybe prestons Presbyterians will help u lol umm i guess rail road would be levelers an the institute the catholics lol can i get a college degree for this lol
Ya'll got any more of that *GLOW*
There's a settlement that needs your help, I'll mark it on your map.
GLORY TO THE POWER OF ATOM
All I can think about how much those looks like a Melta gun/ inferno pistol...
Will be sold together with a chainsword to end 'em rightly.
Yes, all yes.
Rahbar Al Haq this is fenrik jurgen’s CCW pistol, called the commissarial lunch aid
if you pointed that thing at a target in a range, my first thought wouldn't be "thats gonna launch a ball of flame down range" its "every target is gonna get melted with microwave radiation" XD
@@nirfz "bonus points if you hit someone"
Look like a Fallout game Weapon
@@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251 we don't make war crimes just happy little kills
Not at all over engineered. Explosive decompression is no laughing matter.
They are the most overbuilt looking flare guns you've ever seen though.
It can be
@@TheZINGularity as long as it happens to someone else
That size hole wouldn't be large enough to cause explosive decompression, even at altitude. Still not something you'd wanna play around with, though.
the solution to a problem I wasn't even remotely aware of. Love the design and history, thanks for sharing and showing, Ian!
What a clever, well designed and excellently engineered piece of equipment. Thank you for showing it to us.
It occurs that one of the main reasons for the need to load into the pressure sealed breech, with the lug locked into the aircraft wall, is to avoid having to ever chamber a flare with the pistol 'inside' the aircraft? Negligent discharge of a flare inside an airplane looks like a really bad idea.
I have the Very pistol my father used in a Lancaster in WW2. It mounted into the ceiling of the cabin.
Cant stop looking at the pimped out FG42 in the background
That pricetag is higher than what I paid for my home...
Why the interest in an overengineered LMG?
My only interest is the actually mechanically crazy guns. The FG-42 is not and it's overrated.
Let's agree to disagree. It's a boring gun with a generic history that gave birth to a mediocre gun that is a slog to carry and operate made more boring because it's German over-engineering.
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 you should watch Ian's video on it. For what it was designed for, it really excelled.
This is nothing short of fascinating! Thank you for stressing the importance of flares in aerial attacks, it's nice to know what it's actual use was. Was great to see a piece of military tech that's not a weapon per say.
Great pick for a video of a true forgotten weapon! I have never seen or heard anything regarding this type of flare gun. This is a must see for anyone interested in military aviation history. Well done sir!
A very interesting foray in the work necessary to adapt weapons to aircraft use... and that makes all the more desirable some presentation of machine guns used in planes.
Very clever piece of design and manufacture. Thanks Ian.
Ingenious very well made. and very complex well thought out.
They were also extensively used to help get formations together in the first place. Some of the larger bombing raids of WWII had hundreds to a thousand bombers all having to group into their smaller groups all taking off from many different airfields and over a fairly long period of time. It was a massive challenge to get these formations together and sometimes bombers never even found their smaller group.
Just when I think Ian can not come up with something new and fascinating, he does! Love your dedication to giving us great subjects.
''Quite unusual'' ... Yep ... I would say so !
(great video as always)
What a neat gun...looks like a REALLY chunky, MEGA-built pistol. Never heard of these before.
Thanks very much for this.
“Excuse me while i whip this out.”
* women screaming *
"Our comms are down, anyone got an alternative?"
"I DO!"
*Man gets tackled for carrying a pistol into the cockpit*
This channel has given me so much inspiration for guns in a sci fi game I'm making.
Nice to see A few of these are still around
"Okay, they keep dropping the flare guns out the window..
""Okay, they started shooting the flares inside the plane & exploding...
"""OKAY, the air gets sucked out....
Man I love the quality of these. Thanks for sharing these Ian!
It looks like a gun from the fallout franchise. Very cool video Ian. Thanks again and happy canadian thanksgivng
ah yes the superior country in walking distance from me.
so far but so close.
These were also used to start a formation, the formation leader aircraft could set off a flare with a specific colour and everyone who was told to form up on that colour could visually see the aircraft they should get behind. Telling that through the radio would be horribly impractical and messy, you need to quickly tell the right people "follow me, im your formation leader", flares do that perfectly.
Holy moly, definitely some of the most interesting gadgets Ian has presented to us.
this is one of the coolest things you have featured so far good job!
This gun really reminds me of Rowland White‘s book Vulcan 607, which describes the first long range bombing raid from Ascension Island against Port Stanley airfield during the Falklands War. During the first refuelling bracket, the crew aboard the Vulcan can’t figure out which of the 11 Victor tankers flying in formation with them they‘re supposed to refuel from. The crew in the Victor in question had to fire off two flares before the Vulcan crew spotted them, probably using guns just like those two.
I highly recommend the book by the way. Interesting stuff, and superbly written.
Worked on some like this at Boscombe Down in 1989/1990 for the BAC 1-11 aircraft.
Everyone should check out “muster planes”. Weaponless aircraft painted in crazy patterns and colors that were easy to see. They would take off before each wing and every wing had an assigned muster plane to gather at as it circled the airfield firing flares like mad. Each muster plane would have a different color of flare for their flight. Once the wing was together the muster plane would wave off and return to the landing field. Ground crews had complete autonomy for their wacky patterns and there’s some really cool ones
And now I know what the lugs on the AN/M8 Flare pistol are for, the more you know.
I truly love this channel. Ian never disappoint with content.
Now I know where the gantz guns got inspiration
I absolutely love when you do weird stuff like this! Keep up the good work, bud!
That is awesome! Thank you for taking to the time to do a flare pistol that is so unique.
5:27 I was literally thinking 3 seconds before “I wonder what weird flare...” and he said his sentence and I was freaked out that he read my mind
I was scrolling through comments and read yours right as that time rolled around. Extra freaky.
The gun Jesus knows a mans sole.
On Submarines, there is a " similar " way to launch, "CHAFF" for defense, from Torpedo , & send, for dye marker, to surface.
Obviously a necessary item! .. BUT I have NEVER heard of them before! .. great video!!!!
Flares did alot in planes. Some even had their own launcher built in and had multi colors and barrels. To ad to Ian. You would also launch flares in a certain series of colors so that the AA gunners wouldn't blast you out of the air while trying to land.
Based on the ergonomics, it's my bet that whomever designed that also designed cameras.
Wow, these are *way* more complicated than I expected... Very, very interesting!
A new auction house collaboration, and it starts with a bang :)
PCP's were used in the V-Force bombers of Royal Air Force Strike Command. The Valient, Vulcan and Victor. They were used in the refuelling Victors of 55 and 57 Suadrons based from RAF Marham during the first Gulf war. I serviced them in the Station Armoury there during 1984.
So interesting! I've never heard of these until now!
Great way to start the day with a Forgotten Weapons video thanks Ian.
As I have a special interest of WWII this is extremely informative. This channel never ceases to amaze. thank you so much. I had no idea of this signaling device.
I like seeing these types of forgotten items - cool! Thanks Ian
A flare gun with its own airlock. Now that's impressive.
I bet all the auction houses that Ian goes to love the advertisement he gives due to how in depth it is with a history lesson.
Another great video, I’m really hoping to see what that bolt action rifle is behind him next to the Fg
I have maintained these pistols when they were fitted to RAF Nimrod's MR2 in the 80's.
This is why I'm subscribed, the oddball historical mechanisms.
Twelve O’Clock High has an excellent demonstration of how flares were used to signal ground crews while bombers were still in the air waiting to land. In fact it’s right in the beginning of the film.
This is a very interesting flare gun. It looks like something I would see in a Sci-fi movie in the 40’s and 50’s.
Casually dropping that masterful transition in there at 5:38
Damn I would love this design to be used in a movie/videogame as some sort of futuristic plasma weapon. It looks super cool
Theret still another Star Wars numbered episode in the works...
(Caugh) Archaeotech Boltpistol from WH40K (Caugh)
Now I understand the pictures I've seen of airmen pouches or leg-holders for large numbers of flares.
love this channel, I didnt even know they fired flares from aircraft
Interesting piece of kit!!
Would like to know on what aircraft this was used on. IIRC, the only Allied pressurized bomber of the war was the B-29. Only a few specialized high-altitude fighters had pressurization. This would have been a cumbersome process in a single seater.
Wonder if this might not actually be from the post-war period. Looks like something that would be fitted to a Canberra or Meteor F8.
Edit: near as I can tell, the Brits had two variants of Spitfire that were pressurized, and looking at cockpit photos will show you that there isnt much room in there. Anyway, put this question out into the aviation community.
And the winner of the "Most Steampunk Looking " Award is ..... !
I love the "(Quite Unusual)" tag you added to the end of the video title. You know if Ian thinks it's weird then it's definitely going to be interesting.
Thanks for another fantastic video.
These are the types of firearms of why i love this channel.
I would like to see more interesting flare guns in the future
One of the coolest things ive ever seen. had no idea it existed
2:12 - I think I heard an airplane going over in the background while you were saying that - how appropriate! :-P
I like the Krevadkarbin behind you. I have fired that "rifle" many many times. (Based on the m/96, but you knew that already)
Wow, that's quite ingenious to come up with such a system.
Thats pretty neat. Those high altitude bombers are like submarines in the sky.
Why am I imagining a RAF pilot 'rolling down the window' of his Lancaster bomber to shoot a flare? LOL!!!
Slide opening actually :-)
Because Lancaster bombers are a type of British plane piloted by RAF pilots in WW2 and that very scenario was brought up and dismissed by the video, legitimising the creation of this device.
Further to this there is a wartime propoganda film Target For Tonight, Wellington bombers though, showingthe use of flare guns, just bog standard type.
Its a cold war gizmo no brit ww2 bomber was pressurized
one of the coolest episodes yet
I had no idea this kind of thing existed. Thanks for making this video.
Sometimes I'm amazed by how simple a solution engineers and designers find, this is not one of those time.
fast, cheap (simple) and quality. pick only two.
I'm always awed and impressed at the amount and quality of innovation that was brought about by the two great wars of the last century.
That is seriously cool. Never seen something like that before.
Only one aircraft during WW2 had a pressurized interior. The American B-29 used against Japan. I think it's more of locking it to airframe so as not to be interfered with aircrafts slipstream. Something of this nature seems more what it is. You still make awesome vids. Very informative. Thank u.
Flares were used by Pathfinders who were designated, experienced, skilled pilots, usually in Lancaster’s and Mosquitos who would find and identify a target for the following crews to bomb. This improved accuracy. Different colours of flares marked primary, secondary or reserve targets. However, these weren’t pressurised planes. Still, firing from a plane flying at 200knots couldn’t be done by winding down the window.
Fascinating piece, Ian. Thanks!
What an extremely cool device! I had no idea these even existed.
G'day Ian. Very interesting flare pistols. I have an unrelated question and didn't know where to ask it. I happened upon 3 of your older videos of presentations to AFTE conferences on Proof Marks, Clips and Magazines, and High Speed Photography. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Do you have any more such presentations on video? Thanks.
Very interesting. I knew that planes carried flares for signalling. Never knew or thought about having to fire one at high altitude from a pressurized cabin.
looks like a gadget that BATMAN uses
Another use of flare guns by aircraft was identification when passing over friendly lines or locations like bases defended by AA. Individual AA units usually didn't have radio connections with aircraft, so they had to have a way of identifying friendly planes before they were so close that they could be identified from their type or markings, which would have been particularly difficult at night.
Just recently read how flares were used extensively in coordinating aircraft joining bombing missions, fascinating stuff.
I´m sure those things are able to open beerbottles as well! Great and interesting video, as always.
anyone else get a funny feeling when he points the barrel at the camera lol
From what I heard, the large british bombers (Lancaster, Halifax ect) did not have pressurized cabins. They used oxygene masks at high altitude. As did the B17 btw.
So I ussume those flare devices are from post WW2 jet bombers, like the Vulcan. Since all crown owned (like military kit) items were religiously stamped with the crow foot (arrow) and year, it should be easy to see when they came into service.
0:46 - Granted, not all high-altitude bombers _had_ pressurized fuselages. As late as World War II, most strategic bombers had unpressurized fuselages where the crew wore oxygen masks throughout the mission - which actually makes quite a bit of sense, since a pressurized fuselage has to be heavier, repeated cabin-pressurization cycles produce all sorts of interesting fatigue problems (especially with aluminium alloys like those used for most metal aircraft, which are among the most-fatigue-prone metals that have ever been used for the primary structure of anything), and providing all that pressurized air requires an air compressor, which generally has to be driven from the engines, which can be a significant drain on the engines' useful power output when we're talking about WWII-era piston engines.
STI/ARM/84, refers to a "Special Technical Instruction" and is a modification or fix issued by the RAF/MOD/War Ministry for different equipment, the ARM obviously means armament, and the 84 is the issue number of the STI.
@Léo Mutombo Wow random link!
The much awaited second episode in the gun yoga series.
On a more serious note, is there a mechanism that prevents the opened breach assembly to be rotated back down again?