Getting An Old Blowlamp Started.

The military petrol stove mention by Rick was basically the same cooking stove we cooked our meals on our tanks and ferrets well into the late 1970's.

On exercises our cooks delighted us with their fiery early misty morning displays of petrol vapour lighting up the ground around their cooking trenches with the British army No1 burners, brave men.

**LINK**

I still use a optimus petrol stove from the early 70's

Cyril

Edited By Cyril Bonnett on 07/09/2016 23:39:50

I seem to recall a chap in here from the BAOR

If it was useable they stuck petrol in it and used it, otherwise the British Army wouldn't have had cups of tea and various hot foods after 1950

Parafin was as common as 12 year old Glenlivit back then

Edited By Ady1 on 08/09/2016 00:41:03

The Kiwis will know what I'm on at, the Thermette, the NZ army used them in North Africa, it's said that you could tell the New Zealanders had been here, a little pile of ash about 6" diameter. These things are like a vertical boiler, about 18" tall, and 6" dia. Most of them made of tin plate steel, posh ones made of copper, a hand full of little sticks, and about 5 minutes and the cupper is boiled, some people made a support to go on top where you could put a fry pan. The army also had a stove made from petrol cans (square 4 gal), under this a tray of sand, some petrol pour into the sand, and lit up, this was to cook for a platoon. I think the British army also used the petrol stove, it was known a a Benghazi burner.

Ian S C

Edited By Ian S C on 08/09/2016 10:08:57

for the Optimus. Brilliant little petrol stove. Still using mine when go away in the Caterham 7

Colin

That looks very much like the petrol stove I used to have. It was known as O'Brien as it was second cousin to a petrol bomb. Took it to Corsica on a motorbike once. Trouble is it's already very hot in Corsica, so the safety valve on the tank lifted, and the jet of petrol vapour ignited like a flame thrower, fortunately not in the tent. Apply big wet towel and keep pouring water on till it all cooled down. Having said that I wish I still had it, it was a lot better than the Coleman I have now which won't run on more than half power without flaring up. I suppose I should buy Coleman's fuel, but that defeats the object

Second-hand story. My late father-in-law was absolutely terrified of cotton wool. He couldn't stand the sight of the stuff.

He was in Korea with the Army Catering Corps and was badly burned when the trench full of sand and petrol they were using as a giant cooker exploded. Apparently a colleague had already overfilled the trench with petrol just before poor Jim added a another full jerrycan, leant over and fired up his Zippo.

He was airlifted to a US Forces hospital in Japan where the long and painful treatment somehow ingrained a permanent aversion to cotton-wool. Thirty years later he was still having nightmares about being trapped in a fireball.