Flaming onions – 5 shots?

[Ransom E. Olds]

Is not the M-Flak the weapon known in the Boer War as the pom-pom? In other words, a very large Maxim machinegun adapted to the 37mm Hotchkiss ammunition? Ransom

[rammjaeger]

Yes, I think this should be the British equivalent:

Land forces of the British Empire: Army: Armaments: Machine Guns: Maxim 1 Pounder Pom Pom

The Britons did obviously re-work their Army pom-pom for AAA use (like in the picture).
The Germans re-worked their Navy Hotchkiss (ammunition) guns for AAA use.
Note the different sockets!
It would be interesting to know which kind of ammunition the Brits used. One line by Bodenschatz seems to indicate that not every British grenade of this gun had a light trace.
The Germans had removed the explosive charge of their grenades and added the tracer load to every grenade.
I wonder if the Brits kept their original explosive charge and mixed these grenades in action with tracer grenades (like a MG)?

Concerning the German drum: The original belt used in the drum of the German M-Flak was designed for 50 grenades but only 45 were used in daily action because of packing reasons.
A later report claims a volume of 150 grenades for the (then probably bigger) drum.

[rammjaeger]

Here a British try to use the pom-pom in an airplane (scroll down):

Nocturnal Defense of Great Britain in the First World War

And here a report about the AAA use of pom-pom in the BEF 1914/15:

The British Expeditionary Force 1914-15 - Google Buchsuche

Looks like the British military used these 37 mm machine cannons earlier for AAA but did not understand to exploit the considerable potential of the cannon.

[rammjaeger]

Bodenschatz reported about balloon attacks of Jasta 4 in 1917. He mentioned British 3.5 [sic] cm AAA defended balloons but I think he did mean 3.7 cm pom-pom.
According to Bodenschatz these cannons were called "Schnellspucker" (fast spitter) by the German aviators. He says the guns were extraordinary and dangerous. As well B. claims that every fifth shell was a phosporus shell (tracer). That means the fire of both sides (M-Flak vs pom-pom 37 mm) looked different in the air. All German 37 mm grenades were visible and "glowing" but only every 5th grenade of the British pom-pom had a tracer (IF B.s claim is correct - different "mixes" of shells are possible too.).

Can anybody confirm the latter? Which kinds of ammunition were used?
Did anybody hear about the number of pom-pom 1- and 2-pounder in AAA service at the end of WWI? Is the number of confirmed victories known?
I am afraid nobody did deal with the topic till now.

[Hanslune]

Can I ask a side question on the use of observation balloons?

So both sides were using observation balloons at night?

[rammjaeger]

Yes, happened on both sides - but is a bit off-topic here.

Main observation time was in daylight but observation balloons were often put up into the air before sunrise and somtimes used also at night if weather and light conditions did allow that (and a need for nightly observation existed).

[Hanslune]

Thanks for the information

[rammjaeger]

Finally an example for a potential matching of reported flaming onions and M-Flak activity.

Five airplanes of 40 Sqn had a special mission against kite balloons on 6 April 1917. 2Lt Todd dived from 8000 feet down to 500 feet (the ballon was hastily winched down) on one balloon, fired 3 rockets at 10 yards range (says the report) and flamed the balloon near Neuvireuil ca 10 am. Reportedly Todd was under fire of flaming onions and rifle fire, however, he made it back.
His squadron mate 2Lt Pell was not so lucky and was killed by M-Flakzug 60. German sources report Neuvireuil as location.

[Hanslune]

Sehr interessant, viel geschätzt

[rammjaeger]

You are welcome!

By the way instead of the term "flaming onion" also the term "burning shells" was used to describe the German "Vollgeschoß mit Lichtspur" of the Flak.