And I don't mean gay root-crops! [Not that there is anything wrong with that... ]

Something is missing in Rise of Flight. Sure there is danger in the skies over the lines, but the anti-aircraft artillery, AAA, or “archie”, I find does not factor into the sim other than an overall weak background ambiance.

First off, the Central powers had black archie smoke bursts, the Entente had grayish-white archie bursts. Pilots on both sides used the bursts to “locate” airplanes from distances greater than their eyes could see. They followed the AAA smoke to the airplanes. This is a very important tactical element and would go a tremendous way to alleviate the draw-distance limitations of our monitors for distant aircraft. Second, archie’s aim wasn’t as bad as the ambient bursts. It is true that AAA was more of a nuisance than a deadly factor, but the pilots did have to conduct evasive movements to throw the aim off. I do not find this to be so unless at lower altitudes. Archie was a reality over the lines and targets.

But I am off topic in my own thread. Onto “Flaming Onions”!!!

Most/many of you are likely aware of the ‘myth’ of the “Flaming Onions” AAA used as balloon and other high-priority defense by the Germans. It was notoriously reviled by all who had the displeasure of being fired upon by it and seeing “Six or seven white or green balls of fire, apparently chained together, leaving a like number of black smoke-streams. The fire-balls rose to above 5000 feet". But what was “Flaming Onions”??? In the heat of battle most first-hand accounts do not agree, but a weak consensus was that the pyrotechnic projectiles were somehow linked or wired together. This is not true, but a visual illusion caused by rapid-fire of (larger) calibre tracer ammunition.

I certainly do not wish to portray myself as some expert on the topic, but I have done some collecting of articles and images. One of the best articles entitled “Flaming Onions-The Great Enigma” is written by Eric Watson (1969) in the '14-'18 Journal and passed onto me by Check Six over at the OFF forum. There is also a fabulous thread over at the Aerodrome LINK HERE

To make a long story short, the 37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannon (a Gatling gun on steroids) was popular in most armies before The Great War, but really obsolete after the first year or so of WWI. The Germans took these old field weapons and jury-rigged AAA mounts for them, then used all tracer ammunition because it was believed that the tracer would set doped aircraft on fire, and probably would. However, it had an entirely more power effect (and perhaps not unforeseen) on the Entente airmen themselves—they were terrified by it, as the one greatest fear was being set ablaze in the air.

Mr. Karl Kuster, a former Captain in the Imperial German Balloon Corps, is quoted in the Watson article originally from the "Cross & Cockade" Journal (Vol.5 No.3).


Many tout Rise of Flight as the most “immersive” WWI sim out there, and I agree for the most part. However balloon busting missions (and ground/airfield attacks in general) are currently cake-walks. These missions were undertaken only by the bravest of the brave, and facing the Flaming Onions was a huge part of that.

Here is a really nice Youtube animation of a 37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannon LINK HERE

Here is one being used by the Russian navy (I believe) in an anti-torpedo role:


And here is a sketch from the Watson (1969) article, originally from a photograph showing the AAA mount:


Later on as AAA technology advanced, these old brass Hotchkiss guns were replaced by modern 37mm weapons such as below, and it is this replacement which has likely caused so much confusion over exactly what was the Flaming Onion.

Hear, hear, the treatment of AA in RoF can sure use some enhancements.

I'm sure it's not an illusion, when you rank up your score, you get more difficult missions, i just had one bloody mission in awful weather (rain) in which i had to destroy a balloon, then had AAA and artillery as second objectives in almost the same place. Managed to destroy the balloons and one or two enemies afterwards, through puff of noise and smoke, got hurt (yellow-redish screen), then targeted the AAA, managed to bomb 3 of them in 3 passes, but at each one i had to move the nose in a barrel like damned, to avoid hits, almost got kicked in the planes'butt by the AAA (just below, as the plane was pushed up violently), then fast as i could i run away through rain and red-eyes and noise and puffs of smoke checking plane damage (one elevator hit). The vision was too blurred by both rain and wound that i couldn't make low passes to ground targets. That was a hard one and i was really glad i managed to get out alive.

If you want harder missions, you can place more than 4 AAA and artillery units close but not "in a bomb run reach" and set them all to hard.

Laser, I'm not sure what you're advising me to do. I fly mostly in P.Wilson's 3rd party campaign generator and have the ground object density set pretty high, but still do not encounter much in the way of AAA.

Are you making your own missions or otherwise selecting/editing preferences that are not in the GUI?
Can I mod the code to make white and black AAA bursts with an ini edit?

Spot on Bandy . I've wanted white/black AAA bursts and Flaming Onions from Day 1. Never heard if the devs are working on or even contemplating it though.
Over to you, Jason.

Not that there is anything wrong with that...

Soup please, here's my passport

Ming

Weird, I did a search for "flaming onions" last night, I was intending to post this.... Bandy did a much better job that I would have though

Surely with the new pyro lighting effects glowing tracer AAA would look absolutely great, especially at dawn/dusk.

Thanks! I have been interested for a while as well, though this old model is off in quite a few places I now realize, though in my defense I was reading b/t the lines a lot with little to work by...
I made a good connection with a couple of honest fellows over at CombatAce a while back, and Tailspin came up with a great mod for 37 mm Flaming Onions in First Eagles (see, I can use System Internationale!). When the green "balls of light" come up at you from the "Lichtspucker” (spitter of light, the German nickname...) the distance between the tracer rounds is foreshortened somewhat which really does give you the impression that they are tied together. It is an eerie effect, and 37 mm tracers are HUGE though they do move relatively slower than AAMG tracer and can be easily outmaneuvered. It's nice when the mods end up reflecting the first hand accounts so well...

I was saying that, when playing the default career mode, your score goes up (that shown also on leadearboards) and it seems that the missions generated by RoF become harder with it. Below is the current _gen.Mission, balloon attack - automatically generated by RoF for a Pfalz XII career. I just opened it up in Mission Editor, changed title, file name and type ("Single" mission) as recommended; otherwise, no modifications. The AAA is dangerous when you have to fly low around it; not saying that the mission is too hard or anything, but you have a lot of chances to get hit. This is not to demonstrate that things are as they should, it's just to show that sometimes you _can_ get some enjoyment from it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?458992b9m1med39

Cheers

Every time I have to fly near AAA guns, I am killed, virtualy without exception. It doesn't matter if I'm going 250 K.P.H. or manuevering hard, I'm still instantly killed by a direct hit sooner or later. So I must disagree with your statement that the flak is a non-entity. In career mode, now, I immediately turn split-S and fly away if I see flak bursts anywhere near me. In multiplayer, I split-S, land, and leave the server. I dislike being killed by something that no amount of skill can prevent.