I have set of a few flares over the years on bonfire night. In the eightys, you could buy a £1 pack of out of date flares/rockets etc: at the sail makers on the quayside. There would be a couple of rockets, 4 red flares, a couple of smoke bombs. The rockets went off with a hell ov a whoosh and quite a bit of recoil, but nothing to deter me setting off another. All done a long way from the coast though. Never had a dud neither.
As a kid, and when I first started work in the sixties, people used to set off massive aluminum cased parachute flares which traveled a long way. I some times found them smashed through slated roofs around Blyth. These things measured about 3ft before launch.

As a kid, and when I first started work in the sixties, people used to set off massive aluminum cased parachute flares which traveled a long way. I some times found them smashed through slated roofs around Blyth. These things measured about 3ft before launch.

