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M2 flamethrower - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

M2 Flamethrower
A soldier from the 33rd Infantry Division uses an M2 flamethrower.
Type	Flamethrower
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1944–1978
Wars	World War II Korean War Vietnam War Sino-Vietnamese War
Production history
Designer	US Army Chemical Warfare Service
Designed	1940–41
No. built	14,000 (M1A1)
Variants	M2A1-2, M2A1-7
Specifications
Mass	43 lb (19.5 kg) empty 68 lb (30.8 kg) filled
Crew	1

Rate of fire	Around 0.5 US gal (1.9 L) a second
Effective firing range	65+1⁄2 ft (20.0 m)
Maximum firing range	132 ft (40 m)
Feed system	Two, 2 US gal (7.6 L) Napalm/gasoline tanks (fuel) One Nitrogen tank (propellant)
Sights	None

United States Marines demonstrate an M2 flamethrower (2012)

The M2 flamethrower was an American, man-portable, backpack flamethrower that was used in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M2 was the successor to the M1 and M1A1 flamethrowers. Although its burn time was around 7 seconds long, and the flames were effective around 20–40 meters, it was still a useful weapon. With the arrival of flamethrower tanks, the need for flamethrower-carrying infantrymen to expose themselves to enemy fire had been greatly reduced.

Though some M2s were sold off, the majority were scrapped.

Combat use

Second World War

The M2 flamethrower saw combat use in the Pacific theater, being deployed to combat strongly fortified and entrenched Japanese positions. Following the success with the M1 flamethrower, the M2 was developed and put into combat use in 1943. Towards the end of the conflict, later models of the M2 were equipped with the fuel-thickening agent known as napalm.^[1]

Variants of the M2

The M2, which was the WWII model, had hexagonal gas caps and hourglass frames. It was also called the M2-2, M2 for the tank groups and -2 for the wand type.

The M2A1-2 is the variation of the M2 devised during the Korean War. These had straight sided backpack frames, vented gas caps, a cylinder sized regulator and a safety valve. These are much more common today than WWII models.

M2A1-7 was a flamethrower used by the American troops during the Vietnam War. It is the updated version of the M2A1-2 unit used during The Korean War.

It has four controls:

Back of the rear grip: firing safety catch.
Front of the rear grip: firing trigger.
On top of the front part: igniter safety catch
Under the front part: igniter trigger.

The M9A1-7 was the most common model used in Vietnam and is much lighter and easier to use. Tanks for this weapon are commonly^[when?] found, but most wands were destroyed after the Vietnam war.

Some U.S. Army flamethrowers have a front handgrip with the same shape as the rear handgrip. In these models the igniter controls are on the front handgrip, arranged in the same way as the rear handgrip controls. The M2 was replaced by the M9A1-7 flamethrower which was used in Vietnam. The M9A1-7 was replaced by the M202A1 FLASH.

Operators

Former operators

Australia^[2]
Brazil
China
Republic of China (World War II)
Japan (after World War II for the JSDF; later replaced by a Japanese made flamethrower based on the M2)^[3]
Philippines
United States
Indonesia
Malaysia
Portugal
Thailand

Gallery

Two CGI views of a man with an M2A1-7 U.S. Army flamethrower. The two big tanks contain the fuel. The small tank contains the pressurizing gas (nitrogen).
M2A1 flamethrower.
M2A1 flamethrower used by the Republic of China during the China-Burma-India Theater.

References

^ Van Wyck, David (2020). "Beyond the burn: Studies on the physiological effects of flamethrowers during World War II". Military Medical Research. 7 (1): 8. doi:10.1186/s40779-020-00237-9. PMC 7045602. PMID 32102691.
^ "Flamethrowers. Hated feared and used by all". diggerhistory.info. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
^ "携帯放射機（火焔放射機）" (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 November 2015.

External links

Weapons of the World War II Gyrene: Flamethrowers

v t e U.S. infantry weapons of World War II and Korea
Sidearms	M1911/M1911A1 pistol Colt Model 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless High Standard HDM M1917 revolver Smith & Wesson "Victory" revolver Colt New Service Colt Official Police
Rifles and carbines	M1903 Springfield M1917 Enfield M1 Garand M1 carbine M1941 Johnson rifle
Submachine guns	M1928/M1928A1/M1/M1A1 Thompson M2 Hyde M3/M3A1 'Grease gun' Reising M50/M55 United Defense M42
Grenades	Mk 2 Mk 3 M7 grenade launcher
Shotguns	Winchester Model 1897 Ithaca M37 Winchester Model 1912 Browning Auto-5 Remington Model 31 Stevens M520-30/M620
Machine guns and larger	M1917 Browning M1918 BAR M1919 Browning M1941 Johnson LMG M2 Browning Lewis gun Bazooka M2 flamethrower M1A1 flamethrower
Cartridges	12 Gauge .22 LR .32 ACP .380 ACP .45 ACP .38 Special .30 carbine .30-06 Springfield .50 BMG

Chinese infantry weapons of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Swords

Bayonets

HY1935 bayonet

Rifles and carbines

Type 23

Flamethrowers

Rocket launchers and anti-tank rifles

Cartridges

Pistol	7.62×25mm Tokarev 7.63×25mm Mauser 7.65×17mmSR Browning 9×19mm Parabellum 9×20mmR S&W 11.43×23mm ACP
Rifle	7.62×54mmR 7.62×63mm Springfield 7.7×56mmR British 7.92×57mm Mauser 12.7×99mm 13.9×99mmB Boys 14.5×114mm

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