Napalm as an Ordnance

While reading TARGET PLOESTI: View From A Bombsight, I noticed several passages dealing with the use of napalm, that "gasoline-impregnated gelatinlike substance" so heavily used during the Vietnam era.  From the accounts in the book, which tracks the 50 missions of the 460 BG  Hangar Queen, during 1944, it would appear that napalm was frequently used, depending of course, upon the nature of the mission.  Question: when did napalm become "standard ordnance? My impression is that it was not until well into 1944.  Another one of those "tangent" questions.  Thanks!

The first time the 458th used Napalm was on April 15, 1945 on targets in the Royan area in France.  This was the only time Napalm was used by this group.

I interviewed a 448th crewman who said they carried gasoline jelly bombs at least once in the ETO. He said they had their guns stripped out to avoid accidents.

According to my original post, it would appear that the 460 BG used napalm as early as May, 1944, in missions directed at targets in Italy.  I understand that it was not extensively used in the ETO/MTO as incendiaries were common ordnance if required.  One of the incidents in the book (p. 89) refers  to the removal of a napalm bomb which was hung up on its rack and did not release and the extreme care taken to dislodge it. Also it was interesting to understand the "morale" of  the crew when they knew that they were carrying this particular ordnance into an area protected by heavy flak.       Darin, nice pic!  Thanks!

Bob,  That concurs pretty much with the info I'm collecting. War is ugly as we know, and, throughout history, techniques, armament, etc. become more advanced, sophisticated and cruel all for the single purpose of victory over the enemy/aggressor.  In the case of napalm, it was in its "infancy," and not used in all BG's.  I had truly not given it a passsing thought until reading the book I've referenced in the initial post.  I suppose what struck me was the "thickness of the casing/casting" of the bomb itself which posed more of a concern for the A/C's crew in the event of being hit by flak.   Thanks for your input!

From R Freeman's "Mighty Eighth War Manual", referring to the use of napalm by the 8AF in the ETO:

"A refined petroleum jelly known as napalm became available in the second half of 1944. Handled in bulk it was intended for filling as required.
Tested in various containers, the preferred type was the paper composition fighter fuel tank of 108 US gallon capacity. Known as Class C Fire Bombs, napalm tanks were used on a few special missions where blanket fire cover was required, notably against German strongpoints on the French coast in April 1945.
Usually six napalm tanks were carried in a B-24 and four in a B-17; small incendiary igniter units were fixed to each tank."

There are also references to the M69 6lb (14 M69s making up the 100lb M12 Incendiary Cluster bomb, and 38 M69s making up the 500lb M19 Incendiary Cluster bomb)and M76 500lb (M43 500lb GP bomb casing with the HE filling replaced by petroleum gel) incendiary bombs with "petroleum gel" filling, I'll dig out the relevant TM for details as soon as I find it.

All the best,
PB

Just came across this clip on archive.org. About 1 min 10 secs in there is a piece on gasoline jelly bombs. 
 
Would these be the same type that the Liberators carried?
 
http://www.archive.org/details/1945-03-29_Reds_Roll_On_In_Germany

The photo referenced by 'Fabry' ( http://www.footnote.com/image/39009785 ) shows a 491BG lead B-24H-5-FO (serial 42-51493) dropping on the Royan area on 15 April 1945. The 491st did two napalm missions, one on the 14th to Royan Area #11 and one on the 15th to Royan Area #7. The two missions dropped a total of 92 tons of the stuff. These were the only napalm missions flown by the 491st.
 
Al Blue