Hey Doc- did you know that, late in the war, the MkXXX carried napalm? They were called 'Firebash' missions, the first one being 14th/15th April, when Mossies from 515 & 23 Sqn dropped green target indicators as 'Master Bombers' for 100 Group so that 18 MkXXX's & FBVI's could attack Neuruppin Airfield near Potsdam and Juterborg near Berlin.
The napalm gel was held in the standard 100gal (450 Litre) wing drop tanks, having been supplied by the US 8th airforce and having a 1lb (450g) all-way phosphorous fuse. It was called an 'all way' fuse because, no matter how the tank fell, it would ignite.
Apparently, on the afternoon of 6th April, Wing Commander Winn DFC of 141 Sqn carried out 3 trial runs of different types of napalm gel (thick, medium & thin) on the grass next to number 1 runway at RAF West Raynham, dropping the 100 gal tanks whilst aircrew filled the control tower and groundcrew stood ontop of the hangars to get a better view of the enourmous explosions!!! It was discovered that the thick gel failed to ignite. It was decided that no extra training of aircrew was required and no special tactics employed, but because the drop tanks were now full of napalm, the aircraft would have to stop in Belgium to re-fuel on the way to the target.
So 12 aircraft from 141 Sqn (MkXXX) and 6 from 239Sqn (MkVI) set off from West Raynham on the night of the 14th/15th April, 7 of the 141sqn machines flying MkX AI patrols, leaving 5 to carry out the 'firebash' raid, and all 6 of 239Sqn's machines carrying the napalm. At Neuruppin, 3 mosquitos streaked in dropping the cannisters from 800ft (240Metres) which landed near hangars, engulfing the airfield in flames. The aircraft then returned and strafed the airfield. Similar results were seen at Juterborg, although 515sqn were unable to illuminate the airfield with TI's so the first bombs were released on an estimated (and accurate) approximation of the target. One aircraft had a 'hang-up' where the tank failed to release (apparently this happened when the napalm got into the release units at the joint between the tank and the wing). The aircraft then returned twice to strafe the airfield, and noted that the napalm was still burning 13 minutes later.
Further raids were carried out by 141Sqn on April 17th/18th on Schlessheim airfield, and on 18th/19th April as part of a big raid on Munich/Neubiberg airfield, where one Mosquito was lost after being hit by light flak on their low level run in to the target.
On 19th/20th April, no fewer than 3 squadrons of Mosquitos carried Napalm on a raid on Flensburg Airfield (a mix of FB VI's, which also carried 2 500lb bombs, MkXIX's and MkXXX's). Another napalm raid on 22nd/23rd against Jagel saw MkXXX's of 141Sqn accompany 169 and 515, whilst 5 aircraft of 23 Sqn carried the gel to Westerland Airfield on Sylt.
The final 'firebash' raid took place on the 2nd of May, with 6 aircraft of 141 sqn hitting Flensburg and 14 attacking Hohn.
Anyway, this is my really longwinded way of asking you if you think there is some way we can have napalm droptanks as a load-out option on your MkXXX?!?
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