Star shell duration

A WW I star shell, dropped as a parachute flare from an aeroplane over the battlefield. How long would it last?

I reckon with parachute it will drop at say 15 miles an hour -- arbitrary guess based on human parachutists falling at around the same rate, though I suppose it could easily be higher or lower based on the chute size. With that assumption, if dropped from 10,000 feet, it will take around 8 minutes to reach the ground.

But I don't know if it will actually burn for that long, and I don't see offhand any reference for the lifetime of the incendiary. I did find a reference saying a parachute lightball ca. 1850 would last for 2.5 minutes, but no idea what they were like in 1917 -- I presume, however, that they were larger and had longer durations.

King Neptune said:

I don't know, but it appears that there were several sizes, so varying durations.

Scroll down and you may find an answer.
http://warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/24280/Star-shell#.UxDiKqyznvM

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Great reference, thanks. Looks like 2 minutes was the average from a destroyer's shell in WW II.

WeaselFire said:

WWI pilots rarely got to those altitudes (outside of combat), they liked to see details on the ground. Night flights were also very risky in those aircraft. But battlefield flares usually lasted a few minutes at most if that helps.

Never actually heard of flares dropped from WWI aircraft before. Battlefield officers had flare guns and artillery had star shells.

Jeff

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I have done enormous amounts of research on WW I aviation. 10,000 feet was in fact commonplace. Altitude advantage was key to tactical engagement. Later in the war Germans routinely patrolled at 20,000 feet even without oxygen, and their heavy bombers flew even a little above that level (with lox bottles to sniff), to avoid interception.

Most scout pilots were equipped only with flare guns, but of course they could all rig bombing cables, and many scout-carried bombs were actually modified artillery shells. So it would be perfectly possible for them to carry star-shell parachute rounds for a special mission.

It's certainly true that night flights were relatively rare except for dedicated bomber groups and the dedicated interceptors who went up against them, but there were plenty of pilots on both sides who were skilled nighttime pilots. Anyway, thanks for the confirmation of the shell lifetime.