Flare gun

An Orion-brand single shot, breech loaded, 12 gauge flare gun. Its design is highly typical of commercially available flare guns.

A flare gun is a gun that shoots flares. They are a common item in rescue kits.

Flare guns are sometimes called Very pistols, this term was named after Edward Very (1847–1910), an American naval officer who developed and popularized a single-shot breech-loading snub-nosed pistol that fired flares. Modern varieties are frequently made out of brightly-colored, durable plastic.

Flare guns may be used whenever someone needs to send a help signal. The flares must be shot directly above, making the signal visible for a longer period of time and revealing the position of whoever is in need of help.

While not intended as a weapon, they have been used as one in emergencies. In 1942, at Pembrey Airfield in England, a German pilot mistakenly landed at the field. The Duty Pilot, Sgt. Jeffreys, did not have a conventional weapon; he grabbed a Very pistol and used that to capture the German pilot, Oberleutnant Arnim Faber.

Flare guns have also been used in fiction as weapons. In the movies Captain Ron and Sahara, they were used to shoot at boats. In the film version of From Russia with Love, James Bond, while being chased by boat, uses one to ignite floating fuel to deter those chasing him. In the Tim Dorsey novel Florida Roadkill, a man was accidentally shot and killed with one. In Season 2 of the television series 24, Jack Bauer shoots a terrorist in the chest with a flare gun from a plane's wreckage. In The Breakfast Club, the character Brian states that he is in Saturday detention because a flare gun went off accidentally in his locker. He admits that he was contemplating using it to commit suicide. In the video game TimeSplitters Future Perfect, the flare gun is featured as a powerful one-shot weapon.

In the Deep Purple song Smoke on the Water (which refers to a real event), a Swiss fan of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention shot a flare gun in the ceiling, causing a fire.

External links

[Pembrey Airfield History]

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