Douglas A/B-26 Invader

M10 Airplane smoke tank
HOME
SUB INDEX
Preface
Features
Site Navigation
Reg'n cross ref.
S/No's & Prod'n codes
MILITARY VARIANTS - History, Data & Photos
CIVIL VARIANTS - History, Data & Photos
About the author/Contact
Info Req'd
LATEST

 
 
 
 
.
 
 

mustard.jpg

The above A-26 was shot at Wheeler field, Oahu on 24th Oct 1946 with "Mustard spray" attchments.
Can anyone supply additional data on this aircraft please.

markhamvalley1943.jpg

Above, this shot was kindly supplied Daniel MacRaild and shows 503rd using the M10 smoke dispenser during action in WWII

disp2.jpg

disp1.jpg

 
Several types of fighters and light bombers carried the M10 smoke tank. The Douglas A-20 and A-26 could carry up to four of these tanks to lay a smoke screen or dispense chemicals such as tear gas. When filled to a maximum of 30 gallons, each tank weighed up to 588 pounds and could lay a smoke screen about 2,000 feet long.

This type of American 'Smoke Curtain Installation' device was used during the Second World War D-Day operations by RAF Boston aircraft to lay a smoke curtain which screened assaulting craft from the shore batteries at Le Havre, and the East coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula. There is no doubt that the efficacy of the smoke screen played an important part in the success of the Normandy landings. The aircrafts' approach to the area was made at 300ft, the actual smoke laying being done at sea level. Each aircraft laid up to 5,000 yards of smoke screen. Aerial created 'smoke curtains' were deployed by the USAAF and other services, and used extensively in the South Pacific against the Japanese. Many types of aircraft used the equipment, but the Bostons were the most consistent users. (Information derived from a letter from Air Historical Branch, RAF, dated 3 July 1958).

The M10 Model Airplane Smoke Tank weighed 68lb empty, had a capacity of 33 gallons, and it took 5 to 6 seconds to completely discharge

Chemical Warfare Service 10 M ......Airplane Smoke s/n 3561 EMSCO LOT C-59-1 S.C.1

 

Chemicals used for smoke generation and other applications

Sulfur Mustard ( Mustard gas )

Mustard gas was first used effectively in World War I by the German army against British soldiers near Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 and later also against the French Second Army. The name Yperite comes from its usage by the German army near the town of Ypres. The Allies did not use mustard gas until November 1917 at Cambrai, France, after the armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard-gas shells. It took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard gas weapon. (The only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–Guthrie process). This was used first in September 1918 during the breaking of the Hindenburg Line.

Mustard gas was dispersed as an aerosol in a mixture with other chemicals, giving it a yellow-brown color and a distinctive odor. Mustard gas has also been dispersed in such munitions as aerial bombs, land mines, mortar rounds, artillery shells, and rockets. Exposure to mustard gas was lethal in about one percent of cases. Its effectiveness was as an incapacitating agent. The early countermeasures against mustard gas were relatively ineffective, since a soldier wearing a gas mask was not protected against absorbing it through his skin and being blistered.

Mustard gas is a persistent weapon that remains on the ground for days and weeks, and it continues to cause ill effects. If mustard gas contaminates a soldier's clothing and equipment, then the other soldiers that he comes into contact with are also poisoned. Towards the end of World War I, mustard gas was used in high concentrations as an area-denial weapon that forced troops to abandon heavily-contaminated areas.

 

Since World War I, mustard gas has been used in several wars or other conflicts, usually against people who cannot retaliate:

  • United Kingdom against the Red Army in 1919
  • Spain and France against Rif insurgents in Morocco during 1921 – 27
  • Italy in Libya during 1930
  • The Soviet Union in Xinjiang, Republic of China, during the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang against the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) in 1934, and also in the Xinjiang War (1937) during 1936 – 37
  • Italy against Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) from 1935 to 1940
  • Nazi Germany against Poland and the Soviet Union in a few incidents during World War II
  • Poland against Germany in 1939 during an isolated incident, using a British product
  • The Japanese Empire against China during 1937 – 45
  • Egypt against North Yemen during 1963 – 67
  • Iraq against Iran and the Kurds during 1983 – 88
  • Possibly Sudan against insurgents in the civil war, in 1995 and 1997

In 1943, during the Second World War, an American shipment of mustard gas exploded aboard a supply ship that was bombed during an air raid in the harbor of Bari, Italy. Eighty-three of the 628 hospitalized victims who had been exposed to the mustard gas died. The deaths and incident were partially classified for many years.

 

Zinc chloride

Zinc chloride smoke is grey-white and consists of tiny particles of zinc chloride. The most common mixture for generating these is the zinc chloride smoke mixture (HC), consisting of hexachloroethane, grained aluminium and zinc oxide. The smoke consists of zinc chloride, zinc oxychlorides, and hydrochloric acid, which absorb the moisture in the air. The smoke also contains traces of organic chlorinated compounds, phosgene, carbon monoxide, and chlorine.

Its toxicity is caused mainly by the content of strongly acidic hydrochloric acid, but also due to thermal effects of reaction of zinc chloride with water. These effects cause lesions of the mucous membranes of the upper airways. Damage of the lower airways can manifest itself later as well, due to fine particles of zinc chloride and traces of phosgene. In high concentrations the smoke can be very dangerous when inhaled. Symptoms include dyspnea, retrosternal pain, hoarseness, stridor, lachrymation, cough, expectoration, and in some cases haemoptysis. Delayed pulmonary edema, cyanosis or bronchopneumonia may develop. The smoke and the spent canisters contain suspected carcinogens.

The prognosis for the casualties depends on the degree of the pulmonary damage. All exposed individuals should be kept under observation for 8 hours. Most affected individuals recover within several days, with some symptoms persisting for up to 1–2 weeks. Severe cases can suffer of reduced pulmonary function for some months, the worst cases developing marked dyspnea and cyanosis leading to death.

Respirators are required for people coming into contact with the zinc chloride smoke.

 

Chlorosulfuric acid

Chlorosulfuric acid (CSA) is a heavy, strongly acidic liquid. When dispensed in air, it readily absorbs moisture and forms dense white fog of hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. In moderate concentrations it is highly irritating to eyes, nose, and skin.

When chlorosulfuric acid comes in contact with water, a strong exothermic reaction scatters the corrosive mixture in all directions. CSA is highly corrosive, so careful handling is required.

Low concentrations cause prickling sensations on the skin, but high concentrations or prolonged exposure to field concentrations can cause severe irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract, and mild cough and moderate contact dermatitis can result. Liquid CSA causes acid burns of skin and exposure of eyes can lead to severe eye damage.

Affected body parts should be washed with water and then with sodium bicarbonate solution. The burns are then treated like thermal burns. The skin burns heal readily, while cornea burns can result in residual scarring.

Respirators are required for any concentrations sufficient to cause any coughing, irritation of the eyes or prickling of the skin.

 

Titanium tetrachloride

Titanium tetrachloride (FM) is a yellow, non-flammable, corrosive liquid. In contact with damp air it hydrolyzes readily, resulting in a dense white smoke consisting of droplets of hydrochloric acid and particles of titanium oxychloride.

The titanium tetrachloride smoke is irritant and unpleasant to breathe.

It is dispensed from aircraft to create vertical smoke curtains, and during World War II it was a favorite smoke generation agent on warships.

Goggles or a respirator should be worn when in contact with the smoke, full protective clothing should be worn when handling liquid FM. In direct contact with skin or eyes, liquid FM causes acid burns.

 

Phosphorus

White phosphorus (weapon)

Red phosphorus and white phosphorus (WP) are red or waxy yellow or white substances. White phosphorus is pyrophoric - can be handled safely when under water, but in contact with air it spontaneously ignites. It is used as an incendiary. Both types of phosphorus are used for smoke generation, mostly in artillery shells, bombs, and grenades.

White phosphorus smoke is typically very hot and may cause burns on contact. Red phosphorus is less reactive, does not ignite spontaneously, and its smoke does not cause thermal burns - for this reason it is safer to handle, but cannot be used so easily as an incendiary.

Aerosol of burning phosphorus particles is an effective obscurant against thermal imaging systems. However, this effect is short-lived. After the phosphorus particles fully burn, the smoke reverts from emission to absorption. While very effective in the visible spectrum, cool phosphorus smoke has only low absorption and scattering in infrared wavelengths. Additives in the smoke that involve this part of the spectrum may be visible to thermal imagers or IR viewers.

 

Dyes

Colored smoke

Various signalling purposes require the use of colored smoke. The smoke created is a fine mist of dye particles, generated by burning a mixture of one or more dyes with a low-temperature pyrotechnic composition, usually based on potassium chlorate and lactose (also known as milk sugar).

Colored smoke screen is also possible by adding a colored dye into the fog oil mixture. Typical white smoke screen uses titanium dioxide (or other white pigment), but other colors are possible by replacing titanium dioxide with another pigment. When the hot fog oil condenses on contact with air, the pigment particles are suspended along with the oil vapor. Early smoke screen experiments attempted the use of colored pigment, but found that titanium dioxide was the most light scattering particle known and therefore best for use in obscuring troops and naval vessels. Colored smoke became primarily used for signaling rather than obscuring. In today's military, smoke grenades are found to be non-cancer causing, unlike the 50's AN-M8 model.

 

 

Chemical Warfare Service in the Southwest Pacific During World War II

by Dr. Burton Wright III

    The goal of the Army's Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) in the Pacific during World War II was to provide Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) forces, which were commanded by General Douglas McArthur, with the capability to conduct chemical warfare if needed. The CWS had to meet substantial challenges before it could accomplish that goal.

    The CWS set up shop in Australia—the SWPA logistics hub for most of the war—to supply chemical warfare needs. However, in mid-1942, the 3d Chemical Laboratory Company, then the sole CWS unit in the Pacific theater, had almost no chemical equipment or chemicals. Thus, the CWS in Australia lacked what it needed to support chemical operations.

    Some relief, but not enough, occurred when the Army established a general depot for materials left behind by Army divisions passing through Australia on their way to the front. Although the stockpiles obtained from these units seemed more than adequate at first, planners in the United States were developing a logistics strategy to ensure that adequate supplies would reach every corner of the far Pacific. This high-level planning culminated in February 1942 with a document on an overall supply system for Australia. It called for stockpiling 90 days' worth of supplies of all classes, to include ground ammunition.

    The Adjutant General directed the Army's technical services, which included the CWS, to complete a level-of-supply study and set up a system that provided for shipment of materiel to Australia. In other words, they had to determine the number of soldiers the supply system would need and the methods they would use to get supplies to the depot in Australia.

    The Office of the Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service used this study to determine the correct quantity of chemicals to send to Australia. Mustard was the only chemical retaliatory agent available for shipment, and it had to be shipped in heavy bulk containers. Only 870 of the 1,000 tons of mustard agent requested were sent to Australia because shipping space was limited.

    The SWPA CWS asked for supplies in excess of allowances in order to overstock supplies and ensure that they would be available when needed. This was because troops are far simpler to ship than bulk cargo; to adequately support large infusions of men, it was necessary to make sure that bulk supplies were on hand before the troops arrived.

    Once the mustard agent arrived, it had to be processed and put into mines, spray tanks, and bombs. This procedure required a special facility. Colonel William Copthorne, one of the senior CWS officers in Australia, wrote to the Department of the Army and requested that an entire plant be shipped from the United States. The plant arrived dismantled and without any diagrams showing how to reassemble it. The Americans had to use guesswork to assemble the plant, but they succeeded. The plant eventually filled 14,000 bomb casings that, though intended for the Philippines, stayed in Australia after the Philippines fell to the Japanese.

    Landmines were in short supply. The Army had the landmines manufactured locally and shipped unfilled to the CWS. CWS then added the chemical agent so the mines could be stored for later use.

    Even though the M10 spray tanks used with aircraft were shipped to Australia without accessories or filling instructions, the CWS plant managed to fill enough spray tanks to supply a 63-plane raid.

    Artillery shells took a bit longer to produce. Although the mustard agent and the filler plant were available, shell casings were not. They had to be shipped in scarce transport space. Luckily, the lack of artillery shells was not significant. Only one piece of equipment capable of firing artillery shells had been shipped to the front since the nature of combat in the jungles at that time did not allow for use of heavy artillery.

    By March 1943, a gas warfare plan was in place in case the Japanese used chemicals. This plan called for toxic agents to be dispersed in six different locations. If the President authorized the use of chemicals, U.S. forces could respond immediately.

    By late 1943, General MacArthur had the capability to use chemical weapons offensively. It took time, but the CWS accomplished its goal even though the Pacific was not the Army's highest priority during World War II. Ingenuity was the key.   ALOG

    Note: Until his death earlier this year, Dr. Burton Wright III was the historian at the Army Chemical School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was a frequent contributor to Army Logistician, and we regret his passing.

SITE NAVIGATION