Dust From Long “Shaker” Smothers Fire Bomb (Dec, 1942)
I thought that bombs, even incendiary, generally exploded rather than burned.
Dust From Long “Shaker” Smothers Fire Bomb
Incendiary bombs can be extinguished within thirty seconds, it is claimed, with a powder sprinkled from a long tube that anyone can handle. Because of its length, the tube permits the operator to remain six to eight feet from the burning bomb while shaking out the powder.
Incendiaries were the nasty type of bombs intended to destroy whole cities. They didn’t explode. Instead, they’d ignite and start fires all over the place. The really horrid ones would shoot out flaming disks all over the place. During the Blitz, air raid wardens would be posted on root tops with buckets of water to douse the wretched things before they could get going.
If you ever get caught in a Second World War air raid, here’s how to cope: http://youtu.be/HcBENES…
The standard German incendiary bomb of the time weighed 1kg (2.2 lbs) and was filled with thermite. They didn’t explode, they burned hot enough to burn through the heavy tile and metal roofs popular in Europe prior to WW2.