Paul Shull from Smithsonian Channel’s “The Weapon Hunter” breaks out a vintage flamethrower to see how effective it is on a semi-hidden trench system.
The 70-pound M2 could propel a sticky napalm mixture out to about 60 yards or so, which made them useful in clearing pillboxes and pesky things like spider trenches.
Even though some 50,000 flamethrowers were used by the US alone from 1942-1980, almost all were destroyed.
Those that were sold for scrap were usually demilled by poking holes in tanks before they were passed on to that great WWII movie in the sky. There is however, a growing interest in getting these old surplus weapons back up and running.
And it seems the loaner that Shull got his hands on is working just fine.
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