Fake engine fires/explosions, like in the movies/on TV Q

[famvburg]

I had been watching my beloved Black Sheep Squadron re-runs on RTV, at least til they changed their schedule recently. I have BSS on DVD anyway, so... Anyway, I know how smoke systems work (or smoke canisters, I guess, like hanging under the Corsairs) but I've been wondering about when a Zero or Corsair got 'hit' & a big fireball blew out of the cowl, exactly how was that done? Smoke I can understand, but it seems dangerous with actual fire & some sort of explosion. How'd they do that?

[The Inspector]

Possibly the same setup used by old timey lead sled drivers using a sparkplug and over richening the mixture by pumping the throttle and flipping the switch hooked to a sparkplug and a model T coil, on a 49 Merc you'll get a 15 foot orange flame (which is why in most states they are illegal). Now a days you can but them already built and using solid state electronics for you rat rod.

[corsair166b]

I've been looking at my Black Sheep videos also, I know they had ways of mounting charges on the sides of the planes that had reinforced areas so the charges would'nt harm the plane and the charges were all flash and no real substance, but they looked the way the film company wanted them to because lots of flame appeared for a split second like the plane had been hit....in other scene when flak was going off close to the planes they used a chemical called 'Napthalene' which burned quick and looked like a small explosion (remember the flak scenes in 'Midway'? Same stuff)...only trouble was the chord that the charge hung from was often still visible in the background, dangling and looking somewhat awkward. The smoke generators fitted to the underside of the Corsairs to simulate them being Shot Down were interesting, I can only guess at that time they had not yet come up with the exhaust manifold smoke systems that a lot of warbirds use these days, that or they were prohibitively expensive at the time.....

Mark

[ZRX61]

I've worked with Flak Simulators in the mid '80's. The ones we used look like a regular household lightbulb, made from gray plastic & are about same size. The propellant is in the base & the sphere part is the *effect*. They are launched from 3in tubes & are fired electrically (min 4v).
There are 2 kinds:
Daylight: BIG bang, huge black cloud
Night: BIG bang, huge orange fireball.


Could cause quite a panic if you launched a half dozen using a multiple tube launcher from the back yard on your day off...

....apparently

It's probably a good idea that I no longer have a pyro licence....

[The Inspector]

I know that when FHC fires their FLAK 88 (IMPRESSIVE ! SI patron!!) they use a mixture of black powder and powdered coffee creamer, the creamer gives off the orange/yellow 'flash' when ignited. Same deal on 'MYTHBUSTERS'.

[DLSheley]

I've worked with Flak Simulators in the mid '80's. The ones we used look like a regular household lightbulb, made from gray plastic & are about same size. The propellant is in the base & the sphere part is the *effect*. They are launched from 3in tubes & are fired electrically (min 4v).
There are 2 kinds:
Daylight: BIG bang, huge black cloud
Night: BIG bang, huge orange fireball.


Could cause quite a panic if you launched a half dozen using a multiple tube launcher from the back yard on your day off...

....apparently

It's probably a good idea that I no longer have a pyro licence....

I bet the neighborhood kids loved you though!

[Jerry O'Neill]

In Tora, Tora, Tora some of the aircraft, especially the Kates, had a 3 foot tripod-like extension directly coming out from low on the tail. At the end would be the explosive charge with lots of bang in it. They only could use it for shots of the victim getting hit from directly behind, otherwise you would see the silly looking extension.
Jerry

[51fixer]

Sanders has a self contained smoke generator that will attach to an existing pylon.
It would create a stream of white smoke.
IIRC they were used on BSS on a couple occasions.
The effect wouldn't be a bang or explosion but a shot of a doomed craft streaming smoke.
As time went on the budget for each episode decreased so flying of cheaper aircraft increased fewer aircraft in each . POF supplied the L-5 and it got used a lot toward the end. Funny though, a pilot got paid the same regardless of what he flew, L-5, B-25 x 2 pilots, F4U, P-38.

[ZRX61]

I bet the neighborhood kids loved you though!

I lived on a corner lot, they used to ride their bicycles across my lawn. Got fed up with so I rigged the front yard with some flash pots, maroons & the small squibs used to simulate bullet hits one Friday afternoon. Sat in wait on Saturday morning.... didn't take long for 2 of them to cut across the lawn....
*click.... WHOOMPH, FLASH, taka taka taka taka WHOOMPH taka taka taka taka FLASH WHOOMPH* they never tried that again, probably took the rest of the weekend to get their hearing back

[m50a1ontos]

I bet the neighborhood kids loved you though!

I lived on a corner lot, they used to ride their bicycles across my lawn. Got fed up with so I rigged the front yard with some flash pots, maroons & the small squibs used to simulate bullet hits one Friday afternoon. Sat in wait on Saturday morning.... didn't take long for 2 of them to cut across the lawn....
*click.... WHOOMPH, FLASH, taka taka taka taka WHOOMPH taka taka taka taka FLASH WHOOMPH* they never tried that again, probably took the rest of the weekend to get their hearing back

And clean their shorts out!

[fritzthefox]

Related trivia fact: the aircraft that was used in Baa Baa Black Sheep for all of the scenes in which a Corsair went down smoking now sits in the Tri-State Warbird Museum, where it is being restored to flight status. You can see where they bolted on the smoke generator, and every shot of the plane going down was filmed from the same side because of this. (Although the film may have been reversed in some shots)