POTD: Flame Thrower… Nuff Said! – Soviet LPO-50 Flamethrower
Sam.S 04.19.21
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Heck yeah! Let’s kick this off with a flame thrower! The Soviet LPO-50 burst onto the scene in 1953 as the Soviet’s standard-issue flame thrower through the majority of the first chunk of the cold war. Only the first chunk for a reason. This is mostly due to the slow war machine advancing to better arms and flame throwers, though terrifying, would get phased out in favor of less intimate weapons. This flame thrower was a little different than most and I think Rock Island Auction Company explains it very well:
“Mechanically, the LPO-50 takes a very different tack then its predecessors and Western counterparts. Instead of using inert gas to propel incendiary material, the three individual tanks of the backpack unit each contain one “shot” worth of fuel and a tiny pyrotechnic cartridge. The trigger unit on the wand has a setting for each tank, plus a safe setting, and when pulled electrically fires the pyro cartridge in the selected tank as well as an electric igniter unit at the muzzle, the former generating the pressure to drive out the fuel and the latter lighting it up. Once a tank is lit, it goes until it’s gone; you buy the ticket, and you take the ride for approximately 2-3 seconds.”
Lot 540: Soviet LPO-50 Flamethrower Unit [Photograph found in Premier Firearms Auction #82, Rock Island Auction Company]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/82/540/soviet-lpo50-flamethrower-unit
