Flaming onions

I have heard reference to a type of German AA fire called "Flaming Onions", in several books on WW1 aviation that I have read over the years. What type of AA is this?

"Flaming Onions: A form of incendiary and illuminating shell much used by the Germans. In appearance it was a string of fire-balls. This shell was used both in order to point out the location of a machine to German anti-aircraft batteries and also against the machines themselves as a means of setting them on fire."

Extract from the glossary of "The Official History Of Australia In The War Of 1914-1918 Vol VIII. The Australian Flying Corps." By Lt F.M. Cutlack.

Hows that for an explanation. Not a bad title for a book either.

Regards,
Andrew Smith

Thanks!!

The movie 'All Quiet on the Western Front' with the German standing at attention on the cover has some good film footage of these Flaming Onions.

Andrew it's interesting that the definition differs from the conclusion of the last thread on this question, which concluded they were a sort of machine gun tracer round. The mystery continues??

Never looked at the other thread, I was to busy at the time and it really didn't interest me until I saw references to flaming onions in books, anyway the book I got the quote from was written in 1923 and the author was a journalist at the front and was hand picked by C.E.W. Bean(Australia's Official Historian) to write this volume, so I trust his description of the flaming onion. Has there been other explanations of it from other sources?

Regards,
Andrew Smith.

As mentioned in the earlier thread, according to "Up and At 'Em" by Harold Hartney, the Flaming Onion "was an archie missile of most peculiar habits. It burst with about the same sound as a high explosive but let loose a ball of fire which corkscrewed through the air in ever widening circles . . . A terrifying beastie to meet in the air!"

That previous thread was mine. The suggestion (and it's far more accurate than any other description I've ever come across) is that "flaming onions" were in fact the tracer rounds fired by the 37mm German autocannon. These tracers would be large enough to justify the nickname, and the deformation caused by the phosphorus would account for the peculiar trajectory.

The other descriptions (including the one Andrew quoted) are frustratingly vague as to the type of weapon used, so I tend not to take them very seriously.

[Barrett]

Two theories:
One: the flaming onion was something like the 37mm round described above, or at least an allied misinterpretation of Something Else. Much like the vaunted "scarecrow shells" that RAF Bomber Command allegedly encountered over the Reich in WW Deuce--a frightning object resembling an exploding bomber designed to deter aircrews. Only trouble was, there were no scarecrow shells--only exploding bombers.
Two: Flaming Onion--a culinary specialty (alternately a chili augmentation or a particularly potent potable) peculiar to the Texas Panhandle region.