Group, I thought I'd start a general WW2 discussion about artillery safety. We have been talking about this on the Wehrmacht Yahoo list, and wanted to see if everyone else out there in the period might have some good ideas.
Basically, it all started when talking about the recent accident with the "SPR" Tiger (owned by 20th CTSG members) at the Indianapolis Air Show last month. In a nutshell, two crewmen were injured, one badly, but recovering. All info points to the fact that they were firing 1-lb black powder charges inside the Russian 85mm gun breech, and that a lit-fuse type of ignition was being used. I assumed it was the "light & toss" type of charges that I've seen others use.... you have a homemade black powder charge with a cannon fuse, you light it, throw it in the breech, then close the breech, and BOOM. To me, this is a very unsafe way to do it... I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!
I am trying to get people to talk about their best methods of firing powder charges in a tank gun, artillery piece, etc. I have already heard good things, but I'd like to even get a ball rolling to make people painfully aware of the need for safety, even to the point that societies & event organizers start enforcing certain safety regulations with these big bores. I don't want to rain on parades out there, but I'd much rather piss someone off than see them in the hospital (or worse).
Specifically, how do you arty operators run your guns? (powder only..... I think it's safe to say that propane is it's own thing)