Photo by Jack Chlapowski. I'm grateful to Jack for this photo. It brings back a very vivid memory of nearly getting killed while performing flare duty, perhaps in this very aircraft.
This particular night we were orbiting, as usual, several thousand feet above ground level, dropping flares at the direction of ground troops. These flares were set in advance with about a 10 second delay on the fuse, in order to allow time to pull the pin and toss it out the door before the canister separated, opening the parachute and igniting the flare.
Suddenly, the aircraft was filled with the explosive sound of a canister separating and about a million candlepower of light when a flare went off immediately after pulling the pin. The exploding canister knocked the crewman down. But, he still had the presence of mind to kick the ignited flare out the door, badly burning his leg. Had he not done so, in a short period of time the burning magnesium flare would have burned through the aluminum floor, into the fuel cell, turning us all into crispy critters.
Unfortunately, I don't recall that crewman's name, but the other three of us owe him our lives and eternal gratitude.