Mick D Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 A colleague of mine claims that in his aviation books, mention is made from WW1 pilots of a weapon or projectile called 'flaming onions'. My knowledge of the WW1 air war is Nil, so I was hoping that someone will be able to answer his question. Was there anything like this, I was thinking an incendiary device, but that is just a guess ! Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Yes, it is true. It refers to a Gatling - style five barrelled revolving 37 mm gun, used in the AA role for low-level air defence up to about 5,000'. It was not specifically designed for this task but, used in this way, it fired a round from each of its five barrels in turn at a very high cyclical rate, the tracers from this giving the effect of a 'string of flaming onions.' Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 11 November , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Jack, I didn't know if it was a wind up, but an answer coming from your good self would seem to negate that worry ! Did it have a name, I'll google the answer to get an image of it. Was it very successful ? can't imagine a WW1 aircraft could fly very fast. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 I cannot say how effective it was, though there are aviation experts on here who would know. I suspect that it had a strong deterrent effect. Even today pilots do not like tangling with AAA at low level. I do not know of a specific site for this weapon, but you could try AA Guns First World War, or even Flaming Onions. Something might come up. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Although some multi barreled guns were used in WW1 with the exception of a few antiques belonging to the Turkish army none of them was a Gatling. AFAIK the 37 mm revolving cannon used by the Germans were captured Hotckiss and Nordenfelt weapons and not used as AA weapons. Flaming onions certainly existed but as to what fired them? One possibility was the 37 mm Maxim. They looked like slowly rising balls of flame like a string of onions which suggests some form of tracer. Interestingly flaming onions were reported by some WW2 bomber pilots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 One of the best of a number of threads on the subject, with a photograph and links to other sources, is here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Sorry. I immediately defer on this one. I had always thought that it was Gatling style weapon, but that might be my interpretation of Revolverkanone Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8HANTS Posted 11 November , 2008 Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Did the 1 pounder Maxim Pom-pom fire tracer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 11 November , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 November , 2008 Thanks for the replies, very informative. Search facility used prior to my question, but didn't reveal the link posted, sorry ! MIck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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