bmac Posted 14 December , 2011 Share Posted 14 December , 2011 Wonder if anyone has any technical information about the 24 semi-portable flame throwers deployed on the Somme for 1st July by Capt Livens, Special Section, Special Brigade, RE, but never used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom W. Posted 14 December , 2011 Share Posted 14 December , 2011 No photos exist of this device. I've done a drawing based on several descriptions. It was 44 inches tall by 12 inches in diameter; the nozzle stood six feet off the ground. It weighed 150 pounds full and carried 14 gallons of oil. Range was 105 feet, and duration was about 30 seconds. It was ignited by a friction fuse attached to the nozzle and set off by a strong pull on the wire. The two sappers carried it like a sedan chair with wooden poles, and when they used it they tucked the poles into sockets to brace the flamethrower, which would do a backward somersault if not braced. The curved oil expulsion tube was attached to the oil tank with a Morris friction coupling that often came apart, dousing the squad with burning oil. A court of inquiry cited this as the main reason the weapon was withdrawn from service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmac Posted 14 December , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 December , 2011 Tom, Terrific thank you. So, presumably, it did see some action somewhere after 1st July. Regards Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom W. Posted 14 December , 2011 Share Posted 14 December , 2011 The Livens Semi-portable was clearly inspired by Aurthor Kitson's device (British patent 18,119, filed on December 29, 1915). Livens seems to have based all his flamethrower designs on the initial work of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom W. Posted 14 December , 2011 Share Posted 14 December , 2011 Tom, Terrific thank you. So, presumably, it did see some action somewhere after 1st July. The record is unclear. Peter Scott wrote in "An Awful Job" (Military Illustrated No. 98, July 1996, pp. 36-37) that they were deployed 12 times but fired only twice. They were apparently used on July 17 in support of the 1/7th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, 144th Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division. Two Semi-portables were also said to have been used on September 3 in High Wood. Colonel Foulkes himself says that attack was carried out by three, not two, Semi-portables and one Vincent battery flamethrower. So I can't say for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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