NEW TANI(S

fOR OLD!
,he story of the All-American Flame-Throwing
;ank-prod\lcf of the Army, Navy, and Marines­
vhich goes to show that you can never tell wha'
alvage is worth until the right men get hold of it

m: SUCCESS of portable flame throwers at

f Tarawa made it obvious that tanks with simi­
ar but heavier equipment would be extremely effec­
,iYe weapons against Jl~p-helcl Clwes.
Col. George F. Unnmcht, CWS, Ohief Chemical
)fficer for MID-PAC and FOA, was placed in
:harge of Itl1 flame tlmHvcr tauk development in
he Pacific Ocean IH'ea. I-lis appointment was fol­
o"lled by the iirRt complete IYlOdp,l-llltmed Sata~
lUilt from au obi-iole("e Mil htllk at Schofie.1cl Bar­
'acks, Hawaii, by the Fort.y-third Ohemieal Lllbo­
'atory Oompltny. It was demoni;lt.ratecl l1,nd ac­
;epted on 15 April 1944.
: In May, in answer to a request for skilled me­
~lanics needed to lHLsh the clevelopment of addi­
Throughout the summer, the Seabees continued
to assist Lientenant BoJanowski in modifying and
installing Ronson flame throwers, meanwhile in­
structing Army and Marine personnel in their use
and maintenance.
In reporting his activities to the Chief of
BuDocks, Chief Quinlan noted that because the
project lacked a priority, "it was necessary to use
personal contacts in many ways to get materials
n.nd equipment." One of his contacts was Com­
mander James A. Coddington, CEO, USN, then
PWO at NAS Pearl Harbor.
On 18 September, a "Flame Thrower Group"
WitS established for work on 54: additional tanks

[anal vehiele-mounted flltnH' throwers, the One to be converted into armored vehicle flame throw­
tl:ul1l1recl aJl<l Se\Vemtecnth NCB snpplied'several ers. The group consisted of still more Senbees
,eabees uuder GWO O'Neill P. Quinlan, CEC,
;JSNR (now lieutenant (jg), CEO, lJSN) , who
;eported to Second Lieutcnn.nt 1. Beard, USMC,
:01' duty all this top-seere~t work. Uuder the uirec­
ion of-Lt. John P. Bolanowski, CWS, USA, cle­
:igner of the lllodifientiOll, the Seabees gllV~ techni­ Lt. (j 9) O'Neill
al assistance in instll11lng Englii-ih Ronson flame p, Quinlan,
hl'owel's in 2:\ lldditionll1 ]ight Mil tlmles. ,
Augmented by morc Seabees, the group worlmd (E(I USN,
:rom SUll up to sun down, 7 days n, week, in time
o deliver the weapons, l)J.·(~testeel, lor shipment to
he Mllrihcs for the Snipltn operation on 13 May
.944.
Their work earned Chid Quinlan and three Sea­
lees a commendation from Lt. Gem. Holland M.
hnith, USMC, Comlllllm]ing Geneml, Fleet Ma­
ine Force, Pacific.

'ebl'/wl"1/ 19.1,8 51
 ~IC6nfused Bustor" I

. , e, th~secondaryfllel
from,s, tank bOg(1C v
ids "itll the SnJllfl
VIce.
J:'" ftame thtower WUM
pds p~l1r0 and had n t
lit Normal combat mug
fuelsyst0m had a Capll<:
I' rgeof between III:.! 11
mlW~ up by passing: CUt'
'. 'on valve, It requil
UOO electrical connectiOtlli
,,, rod to install tho III
was betweCl! $~

This Aame gun

 "Confused Buster" went into <:lction and threw a more closely co!,!trolled flame for twice the distance

airplane, the secondary fuel jet was a grease relief
fitting from a tank bogee whc(\], and the electric
solenoids were the same lIHl\(l for firing tank
ordnance.
The flame thrower was opcratc(l unCleI' 300
pounds presSure and Imd a maximum l'n.nge of 400
feet. Normal combat mnge was 21l() to 275 feet.
The fuel syst<~m hn.d a capacity of 2UO gallons, and
a discharge of between l1/z nll112 g. p. s. Pressure
was built up by passing carbon dioxide through a
reduction valve. It rcquiX'(\(] 1,200 lImn hours,
1,100 electrical col1tlectionA, and luO pounds of
welding ro(] to install the unit in (me tank. Esti­
mated COi:Jt was between $20,000 l.\lId $21l,OOO per
unit.
A large part of the KIH:teKs of the !,l'ojeet was
owed to the cllt.hl1~iaHtic support given by Lt.
Gen. R C. Richftl'dKOn, (~()mnmlldillg generftl of
POA, who wJ:w'ltlIHHtl'tedly lm('ked lip his chemical
officer's efforts.
Supervision of the work Was lly ChOarp. Quin­
lan. OMM GnJlant, assisted by 2 Heab(ws ttnc1 [1.801­
dier, produced 150 sheets of detailed drawings.
Reichle, assisted by EM2c Joseph Kissel, was re­
sponsible for the design. Pipe work and shop
supervision were carried out by SFlc J. F. Be­
bolla. EM1c A. M. Rushton did the electrical
work. Welding was performed by SF2c A. P.
Brugge and SF1c Dale Reid. WT2c E. R. Vajgrt
wus responsible for copper tubing installation,
while WT2c C. A. Mether handled the machine­
shop work and assisted in development of the first
model. Testing and firing of guns was done by
MM2c O. S. Blount.
Kissel and SF1c J. T. Patterson were assigned
to Marine flame thrower tank units to maintain·
the flame throwers during combat on Iwo Jima.
Other units saw action at Okinawa. Kissel spent
20 days in the front lines on I woo Sometimes he
was an assistant gunner, sometimes assistant
driver. .
The tank-mounted flame thrower was a success­
ful weapon. It eliminated deeply entrenched
enemy resistance where other means had failed.
Combat officers who witnessed its deadly efficiency
were among the first to praise its development.

This flame gun did good work but was superseded shortly by another which was far better

SPARK PLUG ANO GASOLINE

··ATO~IZE~ SPRAY ~ET SLOT EXTENDEO THIS DISTANC£

SLOT IN TOP 0' 7S"'''' TU8! TO ALLOW ~ORTO ALLOW GUN TO BE DRAWN BAeK
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LINn PAST CYLINO!~ HOUSING
ftl;;i,';;oTOii'TuBi ..... ·_·CYGN·OiIT
SLUV! .•.• 1A I
AND PIPE UNION DISCONNECTED
CO' LINE TO RETRACTOR
TUBE CYUNDER
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TUBE TIP
8NUI"trlR 7!!1i MM BARREL OR TUBE
MODtFIED TO SUIT flUME GUN
NOZZLE
ELECTRIC>.L, G'SOLINE ~OVLINOE~ SUPI'ORTING FINS
ANO BNUI'FER L I N E S - - ­

OYLINOER. CROSS SECTION THRU CB-Ht GUN ASSEMBLY

7!lMM GUN 'ruB! CVUNO'-R HOUSING