From: schillin@spock.usc.edu (John Schilling)
Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated
Subject: Re: Destroying a tank with gasoline bombs
Date: 18 Sep 2000 11:31:53 -0700

Sean Malloy <srmalloy@home.com> writes:

>mrdelurk@aol.com (MrDelurk) wrote:
>>I just read this in an amazing book. The Hungarians during the 1956
>>revolution destroyed several hundred Russian tanks by tossing gasoline
>>bombs on them.

>>Does anyone know if this method still works against the following armored
>>vehicles:
>>M-84   T-72 -  T-55   T-34/85     BOV-3    Praga
>>and where does one exactly have to aim with the bomb ?

>If it has an air-breathing engine, it's vulnerable -- and that should
>tell you where you toss the bomb. Onto the rear deck where the burning
>gasoline can get into the engine compartment.


More precisely, you want to locate the engine air intake.  Which may be,
but is not necessarily, on the rear deck.

You also want something a bit thicker than straight gasoline - the classic
Molotov cocktail used a mix of gasoline and motor oil IIRC, and there are
plenty of recipes for improvised gelled gasoline in circulation these days.

But however you arrange it, an engine will need a radiator (broadly speaking),
and radiators don't work too well when the cooling surfaces are covered in
burning napalm.  Nor do engines work very well when the coolant return temp
is that of burning napalm.

The end result is a dead tank, presuming infantry accompanying the tank
don't kill you first.  Which is a big if, but also a nightmare for tankers
who outrun their infantry support in urban warfare.  There's *lots* of
nightmares waiting for unsupported tanks in the city...


--
*John Schilling                    * "Anything worth doing,         *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP       *  is worth doing for money"     *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner *    -13th Rule of Acquisition   *
*White Elephant Research, LLC      * "There is no substitute        *
*schillin@spock.usc.edu            *  for success"                  *
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From: schillin@spock.usc.edu (John Schilling)
Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated
Subject: Re: Destroying a tank with gasoline bombs
Date: 21 Sep 2000 09:55:11 -0700

Bob Keeter <bkeeter@netway.com> writes:

>In article <8q7ucj$l4r$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, <noyeshf@my-deja.com> wrote:

>> In article <y93x5.6027$ks.162236@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net>,
>>   "billh" <williamhudson@sprintmail.com> wrote:

>>    Re: Molotov cocktails...this question is for all who commented on
>> how Molotovs damage armored vehicles.
>>    Besides damage to engines, antennas, optics, hatch bushings, etc.,
>> and leakage into the crew compartment, does anyone know if perhaps
>> enough heat penetrates the armor by convection to bake the crew and
>> force it to bale out?

>Nope. Not a chance, unless you used a VERY large wine bottle, not a
>Magnum sort of like a complete vintage!  There is a LOT of steel in a
>tanks armor.  It takes a LOT of heat to warm up that steel much less
>make it uncomfortable for the guys inside.


Doing the math, I find that a one-pint molotov cocktail can, ideally,
deliver enough energy to heat sixty tons of steel by half a degree
centigrade.  No matter how you work it, I don't think a man-portable
incendiary is going to roast someone through tank armor.  An APC might
get warm, but even there I don't think you'll get a kill.

No, you've got to get the fuel inside the tank.  And with a buttoned-up,
NBC-protected vehicle, the only significant points of entry are the engine
air intake, engine exhaust, and gun tube.  Granted, it might be fun to think
about a loader opening the breech with a pint of burning gasoline in the
chamber, but the engine intake is the bigger target.  And a forced draft
to boot.


--
*John Schilling                    * "Anything worth doing,         *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP       *  is worth doing for money"     *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner *    -13th Rule of Acquisition   *
*White Elephant Research, LLC      * "There is no substitute        *
*schillin@spock.usc.edu            *  for success"                  *
*661-951-9107 or 661-275-6795      *    -58th Rule of Acquisition   *