Has anyone ever heard of allied artillery that had an illuminant powder that caused a shelled area to glow at night?
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Allied Arty
Greetings,
The only ammunition fired from an artillery piece that made the ground glow was a White Phosphorus round. It glowed because everything in the area was burning.
Fred -
That was my first thought... that it could have been WP.... but it sounded as if it was a powder that was non-burning. The only effect was that if it got on your clothing it would glow. I never heard of such a thing.Comment
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Arty
Greetings,
During the time I was in service I shot most of the artillery that the army had. I never heard of any type of round like that.
FredComment
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I personally never fired it but heard mention made of it when someone referred to the slang term for it.
i.e.
High Explosive-Hotel Echo (slang-Ham & Eggs)
White Phosporus-Whiskey Papa (slang-Wilson Pickett)
Illumination-India Lima Lima (slang-I Love Lucy)
We fired almost exclusively HE.Comment
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I don't believe it ever made it into artillery shells but a compound was developed during Vietnam with those properties. It was a project for the Navy SEALS, and made by DuPont Chemical, that was primarily used in hand grenades as a non-flammable illuminating agent.
It was called the Target Illumination and Recovery Aid (or TIARA) program. Apparently, some plans were considered for loading bombs and mortar ammunition but I've never confirmed that use either. The compound itself was called PB-155 and was a non-toxic chemiluminescent material that glowed when exposed to air. I've always assumed it was the for-runner of the modern glow sticks.Comment
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Illum - Illumination rounds fired by artillery, mortar, M79, or dropped by aircraft
I took this from a site called "Glossary of Terminology of Vietnam" or something like that.
I heard this type of round discussed but as I said, we never used them. In fact we never fired "Willy Pete" (white phosphorus) while I was with the gun section 71-72Comment
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