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M48 trip flare, USA

pzgr40

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Cutaway model of a M48 trip flare as used by the USA during and after WW2.
This trip flare uses the same mine body and fuze as the M2(A1) bounding Anti personel mine.

The mine consists of a cast iron base flange to which a steel “mortar” barrel is brassed to the centre hole, used to launch the flare. The side hole is threaded on the inside and houses the pipe for the M605 pressure and pull fuze. Both holes are connected by a radial hole in the flange.
In the pipe the parachute flare is placed. The flare consists of a sheet steel pipe with an internally threaded ring welded inside the base. An Aluminium base flange is screwed into this ring. The aluminium base flange has a groove in the lower part, filled with pressed black powder that acts as a pyrotechnic fuze. A small hole passes the flame of this pyrotechnic fuze to the larger hole in top that houses the flare expulsion charge. On top of the aluminium flange a steel pusher disc with four holes is placed with a felt washer with four holes on top. This combination pushed the flare out of the sheet steel pipe after ignition of the expulsion charge. The flare itself consists of a thick cartboard pipe with a plywood cap in top. The cardboard tube houses the magnesium illumination mixture, with a black powder ignition charge at the base, ignited by four quickmatches which protrudes through the four holes.
The parachute is connected to the plywood cap and folded away in the top of the pipe. A sheet metal cap closes the flare assembly.

The Fuze M605 is a pressure and pull fuze. The pull part of the fuze has a slider with a slot that is rectangular, but has a hole at the end. As long as a diameter recess in the pre tensioned firing pin rests in the rectangular part, it cannot move downward. As soon as the pull wire is activated the slider is moved horizontally until the firing pin falls in the hole , releasing the firing pin into the firing cap.
The three sprongs pressure part of the fuze has a small wedge at the base. As soon as it’s pressed downward, the wedge forces the slider sideways until the firing pin is released.

Functioning of the flare:
The flare is dug in until only the upper part of the fuze protrudes above the ground.
Upon activation of the fuze (pressure or pull) the firing pin ignites the firing cap, which ignites the igniter charge at the base of the fuze. This ignites the delay charge in the pipe which –after a few seconds- ignites the launching charge which launches the flare into the air. This delay is built in to prevent the flare from being launced into the person that steps on the flare when activating the pressure fuze. The pyrotechnic delay is ignited, and when the flare reaches approximately 300 to 500 feet up in the air, the flare is blown out by the expulsion charge, igniting the quickmatch which ignites the flare itself. The parachute opens and the flare starts floating to earth slowly, meanwhile illuminating an area of appr 300 yards radius with 110.000 candela for about 20 seconds.

Regards, DJH
 

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  • 04 - M48 Trip flare parachute and flare pod.jpg
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