WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Flamethrowers Work 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.080 Hi, everybody. Chuck here on a Saturday with my Saturday Selects. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.280 Pick from June three, two ten. I think I picked 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.080 this one because I just got done watching What's Upon 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.200 a Time in Hollywood once again. Here is our episode 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.159 how Flamethrowers Work. Have you seen that movie? You know 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.720 what I'm talking about. If you haven't, I hope they 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.480 didn't spoil it for you. So learn all about flamethrowers 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:28.800 right now. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:37.280 of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.960 to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:45.240 Bryant that makes this Stuff you should Know, right, Chuck? Yeah, yeah, 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:47.320 Terry just I love it when like we get last 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.440 second instructions. Yeah, and they don't make any sense. Save 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:52.920 it for the show, guys, right, or show that picture 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.279 on the podcast the audio podcast. Oh goodness, how are 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:02.080 you sir? I'm fine by all rights Friday, but it's 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:06.240 actually Thursday, but it's almost Memorial Day. Yeah, and we're 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.160 not Are you coming in tomorrow at all? No? I'm 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.880 not comfortable saying either way. Well, that'll be surprised. I 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.040 don't want to get in trouble. Well, I'm not. I'm 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.520 still scared of the man. I know you're not, but 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.360 you're all like, hey, look at me. I'm forty. I 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:26.080 make my own decisions, not forty. So Chuck, you're George 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.800 Carlin fan, right, Yeah, the late George Carlin. Just the 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.280 late Alright, we always had the bummer, don't you. The 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.240 late George Carlin could be like George Carlin. He's the 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:40.399 greatest stand up comedian ever. When the very the worm 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:47.080 food George Carlin, Yeah, the dearly departed. Yes, I like him. Why, 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.840 I have an obscure stand up bit that I'll bet 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.840 you haven't heard of that is apropope of our topic today. 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:58.160 So George Carlin um had a bit about flamethrowers. I 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:00.360 never heard that one. He said that the very presence 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:05.040 of flamethrowers, and I'm paraphrasing, the very presence of flamethrowers 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.720 means that at some point sometime someone said to himself, 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.240 you know, there's a bunch of people over there that 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.120 I'd like to set on fire, but they're too far 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.720 away from me to get the job done. I wish 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.880 there was something that I could use to throw flames 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.160 on them, and as a result, we now have the flamethrower, 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:27.640 which is kind of crazy when you think about it 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.200 that way. It is pretty interesting, it is, And when 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:34.120 you start to really look into flamethrowers, you realize just 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:38.160 how horrific the acts that humans inflict on other humans 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:42.440 can be. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty awful stuff. Actually, yeah, 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.919 when you I mean actually all kinds of modern weaponry. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.000 And know, my brother in lawson the Marines, he told 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.320 me about this. I think it's called a flachette, some 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:55.240 sort of bomb that like explodes above people and sends 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:59.600 thousands of like razor blades shooting out. Yeah. I think 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:03.320 it's mainly of used for clearing like jungle, but um, yeah, 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.800 I can't remember jungle of enemy combatants exactly. Yeah, so 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.639 some sick I thought that up were like what one 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.040 step away from the alien weapons in District nine where 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.720 people just blow up in an almost cartoonish fashion. Yeah, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:22.120 it's coming the atomizer or something they'll call it. Yeah. Um. 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.720 What's what's odd is that that person, that first person 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:30.560 that George carlin Um envisions actually lived a lot longer 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.080 ago than you would think. I was shocked. I was 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:38.600 well a century BC, fifth century b C. Man, Right, 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:40.920 it wasn't well, it was a flamethrower. It was a 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.440 very crude, vulgar if you will, flamethrower. It was a 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.680 long tube sort of like a blowgun, and they filled 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:53.880 it with solid stuff like hot coal and sulfur. And yeah, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.080 ideally you don't suck in that would be bad. No, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.000 I was thinking that too, Like you have to suck 0:03:58.000 --> 0:03:59.920 in the breath before you put the tube deer and 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.880 out through us. You're in big trouble. Oh, that's the 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.800 case with any blow blowgun, right, sure, Yeah, did you 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.960 ever make those when your kid? No? I never did. 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.320 That's too busy burning stuff. You could have done both apparently. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.360 So yeah, they would shoot I guess, um hot coal 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.640 or sulfur out at their enemy combatant instead of a 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.800 flame per se, Yeah, which I guess Ultimately it would 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:25.960 bounce off of their arm and they'd be like, ah, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.440 that burns, and then they just tussle and leg wrestling, right, 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.960 and shake hands afterwards and go eat a bore. That's 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.080 that's how that went to enter BC with Josh. But 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.320 leave it to the Greeks, who were one of the brainiest, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.880 most um thieving cultures of all time. They probably got 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.240 this idea from the Chemites. Frankly, but there's this stuff 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:54.000 called um Greek fire, And actually I can't say that 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:55.880 the Greeks came up with it. It's called Greek fire, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.560 but the Byzantines that what we know is turks um. 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:05.080 We're uh, we're most notorious for using this stuff. Yeah, 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.480 and that they think they're not sure because it was 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.920 a long time ago. It was a mixture of liquid 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:15.560 petrol and sulfur and like stuff like quicklime. Petrol's British 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:20.039 for gas, Yeah, and UM. They would pump it out 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.840 actually from a reservoir through little narrow tubes and like 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.640 anything that goes from a big reservoir type system to 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.080 a small, thin one, it would create pressure to shoot 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.359 it out and then some unlucky guy would be the 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.880 lighter at the end of it, and that would be 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.200 like a real flamethrower, like dozens of feet. Yeah, as 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.800 we're gonna learn, anybody whose job it was to deal 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.920 with any aspect of flamethrowing UM was the unlucky guy. Yeah. 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.000 One of the more dangerous weapons you can use, UM, 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:53.240 but it was very effective. Number One, since it's oil based. Uh, 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.000 it could this, this Greek fire could be used in 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.839 naval battles because it would still burn even when it 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.680 contacted the water. Um. And so the Byzantines mounted it 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.120 on their ships. These flamethrowers um on their ships and 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.880 on the city walls around Constantinople and basically just repelled 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.400 people out of fear as much as you know, burning 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.840 them alive. Yeah, they were. Their enemies were really freaked out. 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.640 I imagine when they first saw like fire shooting at them. Yes, 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.560 freaked out and intrigued, especially in the case of the Chinese. 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.800 See what the Byzantines had was a single action pump. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.360 You just did the foot pump with literally did you 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.760 see that? Do you see that? Jerry? Them following your command? Um, 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:40.680 the the Byzantines had a single action bellows pump where 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.000 when you pressed down on the down stroke, it would 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.359 push the liquid out. Right. Yes, you get like a 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.000 burst of fire. And that's it right, because on the 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:52.760 up stroke nothing was happening except with the bellows were 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.520 filling back up with air to press down compressed right. Um. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.279 The Chinese said, hey, that's that's really funny because we 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.360 have a double simbelows to where you are compressing air 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.560 um on the upstroke and the downstroke. So instead of 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:10.000 your stupid little short bursts of Greek fire, we have 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.960 one long burst that just cuts you in half. Lead 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.640 to the Chinese get all better, the wheelbarrow, the kite, 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:24.440 the hang glider, the flamethrower, gunpowder and actually gunpowder um 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.800 equaled the demise of flamethrowers for about a thousand years, right, Yeah, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.400 as soon as gunpowder came along, they were like, yeah, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.160 we're just chumps with fire when we can actually shoot 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.000 a gun, That's that's the way of the future, right 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:39.960 And it was, But so is the flamethrower, as it 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.880 turns out, yeah, because it lay dormant for about a 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.560 thousand years. And then in World War One, actually right 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:50.600 before World War One, the Germans, a very warlike state 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.480 at the time, were um, they said, you know what, 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.160 exactly can we and our arsenal that is just totally 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.280 scary and wildly to instructive. Yes, let's look back through 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.920 the annals of of you know, historic weaponry and find something. 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.160 And they look through and they said the flamethrower. Yeah. 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.960 Richard Fielder is an engineer in nineteen o one. They 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.920 credit him with inventing it, but he clearly was using 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.520 old technology as the initial idea. At least. It's a 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.760 clever design, though, isn't it. Yeah, because this from this 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:27.320 original design. Um, there have been you know, some polishing 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.480 moments for the flamethrower over the years, but from that, 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.200 from that modern era that the design has remained relatively 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.360 the same. Right, it's like a three tank design. Yeah. 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.280 The flamin furf is what it's called nice the Germans. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:47.400 That's what the German uh, and it was, um, well 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.120 let's yeah, let's go ahead and explain how it works 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.719 with thanks, all right, And this is the handheld flamethrower, 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.360 which is the one that's I guess was most readily 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.520 used in combat. Yeah, and it's the one you see 0:08:57.559 --> 0:08:59.600 like a guy's wearing these tanks on his back and 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:03.160 he's got the rifle. Is just right. So you got 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.119 two outer tanks and those are filled with the flammable 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.400 fuel oil based petrol if you will, like Greek fire 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.920 and um, then there's a center smaller tank which holds 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.360 a compressed gas like butane and uh it was. It 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:21.840 would feed the gas through a pressure regulator connected to 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.720 the tubes, right, and you can take it from here. Well, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.079 the this is why I think it's very clever. The 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.000 butuane served a dual purpose. One that was compressed, so 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.559 when you open the valve, it would push the liquid 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.320 fuel out of the tanks into the tube and into 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.400 ultimately in the reservoir and the gun the pressure regulator. Right, 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.880 that is what they would but switch on. There is 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:48.079 another tube that came directly out of the third tank 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.079 that held the compressed gas like butane, and this tube 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:56.199 went directly to the ignition valve right right, so it 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.880 served as the igniter later on. Right that it was 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.040 because it was the but that was actually burning when 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.000 you um. When you open the ignition valve, the butu 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.480 tane flows to the end, mixes with air the end 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.400 of the rifle. Um and then there's like there's two triggers. 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.960 There's the fuel released trigger right, yes, and then there's 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:17.679 the ignition trigger. And the ignition trigger is basically you're 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.880 operating a battery that operates a spark plug sends the current, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.679 generates heat right nights the but tane. Now you have 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.240 that little blue flame on the end. Yeah, that's what 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.520 you've seen in movies like if you see them around that, yeah, exactly. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.640 You see the little like three inch flame coming out 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.080 in the end, right, that's actually but tane burning. The 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.480 fuel hasn't been released, the hell fire has not been 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.959 opened yet or released yet. That's when you squeeze what's 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.400 the fuel released trigger and then well, yeah, then that 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.120 pulls back a little valve plug because you obviously want 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:49.920 it plugged or else you're going to have a big 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.960 mess on your hands. You'll be on fire very quickly. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.560 So when you pull the fuel release trigger, it pulls 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.319 the little valve plug back, and then all the fuel 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.560 supply suddenly rushes through to the tip of the gun 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:26.360 where the flame is in. Boom, there you go. In 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:33.480 nineteen forty two, the Army Chemical Warfare Service, I think 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:35.720 is what it was called. UM, they came up with 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:40.599 a little something called napalm, which is ultimately a gasoline 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.479 or petrol in the case of Chuck and our British friends, UM, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:50.480 a gasoline thickening agent. So with a slightly thickened gas 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.880 you have a longer range. It carries further because it 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.280 has more mass or girth or whatever. There's less there's 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.120 less friction from the ground comeing up right um, and uh, 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:07.439 it also can be concentrated more easily right right. So 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.400 basically that was one of those real big polishing moments. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.720 It went from just gas which sprays too thick gas 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.719 which sticks burns. It evaporates much less quickly, so it 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.480 will burn forever and it's really difficult to put out. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.000 And if you get covered in it, you're entirely in trouble. Yes, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.320 you're out of luck. And they would mount these on 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.120 well p t boats for one. Have you ever seen 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:33.760 the videos of those things like cruising down the river 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.440 shooting napalm into the forest. Well, I see there's a 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.800 picture of it in the article. I've never seen video 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.160 of It's pretty wicked. Yeah. And they called them, they 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:49.000 called them zippo flamethrowers, right, because the ignition um system 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.840 failed so frequently. It's just like on a gas grill, 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:53.720 what they have to light it with a zippo? With 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.320 a zippo, you're kidding? And that's the other unlucky dude, 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.040 I guess. Yeah, he'd be like, don't get too close 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.599 to it with his hand, right, And so flamethrowers. It 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.440 wasn't just some guy you know where. It would be 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.080 like a bunch of infantry guys and then some guy 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.440 on the end happened to grab the flamethrower that morning 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.880 when they went out, and it's just you know, they 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.640 were part of a tactical strategy. Yeah, what would happen 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.679 was rifleman would lay down cover fire. Let's say you 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.480 come to the mouth of a cave and there's a 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.280 bunch of enemy combatants in there and they're shooting you, 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.240 and they have snipers and you're in big trouble. All 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.920 your your rifleman lay down fire on this cave so 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.400 those guys can't move, cover fire to allow your flamethrower 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.480 man to get close. He was highly susceptible at this 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.920 point because of what he's wearing on his back. Yes, 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:41.959 all it takes is one good shot to one of 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.559 those tanks and that guy's gone, or a bad shot, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.080 just a shot. Sure, yeah, if you come in contact 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.920 with it with the bullet um. But so the flamethrower 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:55.440 guy gets close basically cooks everybody, burns everyone to death 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:59.480 in that cave, right, that's his job. And then after 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:04.480 that the munitions guys come in and explode the cave 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.160 so it can never be used again. And that's Sianora 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.760 for the cave dwellers. Yes, uh, you know, speaking of 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.800 a quick death, I've always heard when I was a kid, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:16.800 you know that. You know, if you were a flamethrower 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.800 in war, your average lifespan is like thirty seconds in combat. Well, 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.280 I always heard that, and I'd scoured the internets and 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.680 I could not find anything to verify that, but um, 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:29.400 that's what I always heard. I thought that was an 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.880 interesting tidbit. I did read that most people who were 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.200 flamethrower operators didn't survive. I would imagine it's pretty dangerous 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.120 thing to be toting around. Yeah, and they also had assistance, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.400 because the assistance would open and close the valves on 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.280 the pack form. That was the whole job. It was 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.960 always a two man team, so both of them would 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.080 usually not make it. I would if I was the assistant, 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.720 I would turn on his little valve and then run 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.280 for cover and then run up and turn it off again, right, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.320 And I'd probably pretty unpopular with the flamethrower guy. Probably 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.880 then the flamethrower guy was well like because if you 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.120 can take out an entire gun nest of people, Yeah. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.160 Then you know everybody's going to applaud you and clap, 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.120 and you know, probably not get too close though, because 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.160 you're going to die eventually. Yeah, I'd rather be a sniper. 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.120 I think that'd be. Like I play Call of Duty. 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:16.680 I got a p S three now, But I tell 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.360 you that no, wow, Chuck, it was given to me 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.120 by my step step step dad, now father in law. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.320 You did tell me my stepfather in law. And so 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:27.760 I got just a couple of games. I'm not like 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.600 a huge gamer at all, Like I think a Nintendo, 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.680 like the first Nintendo was the last thing I actually owned. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.840 But um, I play Call of Duty now. I like 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.480 a shooter games too. It's pretty fun. But you choose 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:41.720 to be a sniper on that. Well, now there are 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.720 just certain levels where you can be a sniper. Like 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:45.840 you'll pick up a sniper gun if you want. And 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:47.480 I was usually kind of just hang back and pick 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.440 guys off, especially guys with flamethrowers. Here we go again 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.960 to liberal peacenicks like us when it comes to like 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.040 this war stuff, we just get all giddy. Well it 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.760 is this one. For some reason, I was reading a 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.280 message about a flamethrower operator in World War two, who 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.000 you know, UM received the Medal of Honor for UM 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.080 invading a Japanese they think they're called pillbox. It was 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.360 a little gun nest and burning them all and burning 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:14.880 them all alive, and like the the guy wrote UM 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.200 that there were some muffled screams and then silence. It's like, 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.120 you know, being burned alive is pretty much everybody's worst death, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.240 I would think. So it's up there. Well we had 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.440 worst way to die, that's right up there. And I think, 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.240 if I remember correctly, burning to death is consistently the 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.560 number one and like informal polls, right, imagine it is 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.680 pretty painful and it happened a lot in World War 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.560 One to Vietnam. Yeah, I imagined Korea. This is a 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:48.160 horrible weapon, absolutely, but you can find uh, civilian applications 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.160 for can't you. Yeah, Well, before we move on to that, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:51.760 we also need to say that they were on tanks 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.000 as well, so it wasn't just boats. They used them 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.200 on tanks, and uh, the design was basically the same. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.000 You just had a lot more fuel and you had 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.600 like piston rotary pumps to get a lot more length 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:09.320 on your shot. And yeah, the backpack mounted ones had 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:14.120 a range of about fifty yards, right, Uh, that's that's 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.240 a long way though. Yeah, let's have a football field. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.440 You don't have to get that close. Sure, Yeah, I 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.879 wonder the first enemy that was like, he's got a flamethrower, 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.680 but we're way too far away. They were within like 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:54.840 forty five exactly. Civilian applications, Um, forced forced fire fighters 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.719 forest firefighters? Is that how you say it? I don't know. 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.080 They actually use these when they do like the prescribed burning, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.439 like sometimes they'll burn, well, not just the firefighters, they 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.960 do prescribe burns anyway, and then sometimes the firefighters do that, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.160 they'll like burn a section to cut it off right there, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.359 and they that's what they do it with flamethrowers, which 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.000 actually kind of made me want to go get a 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.359 job with the forestry Service so you could burn things 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.479 on purpose well with the flamethrower. Yeah. Did you hear 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.439 about this car thing in South Africa? Theft deterrent system 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.240 that burned you know? Yeah, I don't think it's still around. 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.920 This is like twelve years ago, and um, a South 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.800 African man invented it was called the blaster and basically 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.720 it would shoot a man high fireball, that is what 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.840 they called it. What at you if you tried to 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.959 break into the car for a mere ran which is 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:53.000 uh and this and that was like six or fifty 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.320 bucks and um, it would squirt liquefied gas from a 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:01.240 bottle in the trunk through two nozzles located on the 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:05.000 front door. And the rub is you couldn't turn one 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.320 on and turn one off. So if a guy was 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.040 breaking into like the driver's side door, it would still 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.280 shoot fire out of the passenger side to whomever might 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.160 be walking by unluckily on that side. I'd say, yeah, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.960 that's that's an invention that wasn't fully thought through. I 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.200 would think so. But apparently he sold a bunch of 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.360 him at the time and he said it's non lethal, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.320 but it would definitely blind a person, is what he said, 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.520 and keep them from stealing your car. Yeah, because they 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.520 can't see cars any longer. That's terrible. Yeah, way to 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:39.720 go South Africa. Um. Lastly, chuck fire breathers their form 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:45.600 of They follow the basic principles of flamethrowing by drinking kerosene. Yeah, 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.600 there you go. If you want to learn about fire breathers, 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.480 we have an article on them if you want to 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.600 learn more about flame throwers, and before you send us 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.280 a listener mail, we are aware of flamethrower exhaust systems. 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:02.160 We've both seen Greece before. Um, you can type any 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.439 word you want to into the handy search bar how 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.760 stuff works dot Com. It'll yield something interesting. I guarantee 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:14.880 you that. Uh so, chuck listener man, I'm gonna call this. 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.639 I love this dude. And his name is Guy and 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.240 not as in hey guy, his real name is Guy. 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.280 Guy from San Francisco says, guys, just listen to the 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.080 Art Theft podcast. And by the way, we do know 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:33.120 about the Paris heist that just went down. Pretty cool, 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.440 uh very intriguing for future monetary and sent of neither 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.359 here nor there. However, I have a little bit a 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.200 little habit that I thought I might like to share 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.800 that loosely pertains. I have never stolen art knowingly. However, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.160 I do frequently and I'm subjected to I travel frequently, 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.520 and I'm subjected to much distasteful art guilty of being 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.760 a budget traveler. So there's the rub. But to amuse myself, 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:00.760 I like to take the horrible art off the wall, 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.840 take it out of the glass and frame and add 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.919 the ever so slightest detail. This guy is wonderful. He 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.239 does this in hotels. A chicken in the corner by 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:12.680 the barn, a seagull flying over the crest of a wave, 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.760 a beer bottle and fishing pole by the babbling brook. 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:20.919 I do it in every hotel, motel, hotel, hostel, bungalow, 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:22.760 you name it. I will stay there and I will 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.400 change the art they have. Art and hostels. Now, yeah, 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.080 probably not. It makes me chuckle to think that maybe 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:29.879 one day someone will be staring at an awful hotel 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.000 painting and look closely and notice one of the gallant 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.000 cowboys has a tin of skull by his left boot heel. 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.720 So if you stay in cheap hotels, keep your eyes out. 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:41.960 People you may have stayed where a guy from San 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.640 Francisco has stayed. Just don't turn on the black light. 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.520 That's all I have to say. That's awesome. That is awesome, man. 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:54.400 I love to hear people doing cool stuff. Vandalism, yeah, 0:21:54.440 --> 0:22:00.360 but it's it's vandalism with like an eye towards it's fundalism. Well, 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.560 if you're a starving artist who shows your work at 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.640 the Airport Hilton conference Room. We want to hear from you. 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.880 Just send us an email to Stuff podcast at how 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:16.200 stuff works dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.320 production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.240 for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:23.960 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.