A munition (usually air-launched in canisters by aircraft) containing petroleum gel which uses flame for its destructive effects. It is designed for use against hard targets such as bunkers and armoured vehicles. Chemically, it is an aluminium soap of naphthenic and palmitic acids (which give the substance its name).
Napalm is any of a number of flammable liquids used in warfare, often jellied gasoline. Napalm is actually the thickener in such liquids, which when mixed with gasoline makes a sticky incendiary gel.
One of the major problems of early incendiary fluids (such as those used in flamethrowers) was that it splashed and drained too easily. The U.S. found that a gasoline gel increased both the range and effectiveness of flamethrowers, but was difficult to manufacture because it used natural rubber, which was in high demand and expensive. Napalm provided a far cheaper alternative, solving the issues involved with rubber-based incendiaries.
Modern napalm is composed primarily of benzene and polystyrene, and is known as napalm-B.
Napalm was used in flamethrowers and bombs by the U.S. and Allied forces, to increase effectiveness of flammable liquids. Napalm is mixed with gasoline in various proportions to achieve this. Another useful (and dangerous) effect, primarily involving its use in bombs, was that napalm "rapidly deoxygenates the available air" as well as creating large amounts of carbon monoxide causing suffocation. Napalm bombs were also used in the Vietnam War to clear landing zones for helicopters.
Though napalm was a 20th century invention, it is part of a long history of incendiary materials in warfare.
Usage in warfare
On July 17, 1944, napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France. Napalm bombs were first used in the Pacific Theatre during the Battle of Tinian. In World War II, Allied Forces bombed cities in Japan with napalm, and used it in bombs and flamethrowers in Germany and the Japanese-held islands. It was used by the Greek army against communist guerrilla fighters during the Greek Civil War, by United Nations forces in Korea, by Mexico in the late 1960s against guerrilla fighters in Guerrero and by the United States during the Vietnam War.
Napalm has been used recently in wartime by or against: Iran (1980–88), Israel (1967, 1982), Nigeria (1969), Brazil (1972), Egypt (1973), Cyprus (1974), Argentina (1982), Iraq (1980–88, 1991), Serbia (1994), Turkey (1963, 1974, 1997), Angola, United States.
In some cases, napalm incapacitates and kills its victims very quickly. However, victims who suffer 2nd degree burns from splashed napalm will be in significant amounts of pain.
"Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine," said Kim Phuc, a napalm bombing survivor known from a famous Vietnam War photograph. Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius."
Phuc sustained third-degree burns to half her body and was not expected to live.
International law does not prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets, but use against civilian populations was banned by a United Nations convention in 1980.
Reports by the Sydney Morning Herald suggested the usage of napalm in the Iraq War by US forces. The only Mk 77 bomb remaining in service at this time was the Mk 77 Mod 5, which does not use actual napalm (e.g. The last U.S. bomb to use actual napalm was the Mark 77 Mod 4, the last of which were destroyed in March 2001.
"We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11. (...) The generals love napalm.
These bombs did not actually contain napalm. The napalm-B (super napalm) used in Vietnam was gasoline based.
Recipes for napalm type substances are commonly circulated on the Internet. These typically purport to produce a thickened gasoline-based substance using soap or polystyrene as a thickening agent (very similar to the napalm of the Vietnam War).
Composition
Napalm is usually a mixture of gasoline with suitable thickening agents.
There are two types of napalm: oil-based with aluminum soap thickener, and oil-based with polymeric thickener ("napalm-B").
The United States military uses three kinds of thickeners: M1, M2, and M4. As the water content impairs the quality of napalm, thickener from partially used open containers should not be used later.
A later variant, napalm-B, also called "super napalm", is a mixture of low-octane gasoline with benzene and polystyrene. Unlike conventional napalm, which burns for only 15–30 seconds, napalm B burns for up to 10 minutes with fewer fireballs, sticks better to surfaces, and offers improved destruction effects.
Starting in the early 1990s, various websites including The Anarchist Cookbook advertised recipes for homemade napalm.
Napalm reaches burning temperatures of approximately 1200 °C.
In the early 1950s, Norway developed its own napalm, based on fatty acids in whale oil.
Napalm in popular culture
Napalm itself became well-known by the American public after its use in the Vietnam war.
In the film Fight Club, the screenwriters were originally going to have Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) recite a working recipe for napalm. In the film Apocalypse Now, Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall) famously declares "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... Calvin's favorite comic book superhero (and a character he wants to become) is Captain Napalm. To add an aspect of irony (especially when considered with the usage of napalm in Apocalypse Now), the tagline for Captain Napalm is "Defender of the American Way". Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.) leads a quick-step march with a cadence call that has the chorus, "And napalm sticks to kids!"
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