flaming onion

English

Etymology

From its appearance after exploding.

Noun

flaming onion (plural flaming onions)

1. (military, slang, historical) A 37 mm Hotchkiss revolving-barrel anti-aircraft gun used by the German army at the beginning of World War I.
2. (military, slang, historical) The flare or tracer ammunition fired by this weapon.
   • 1985, Robert Harrison, Aviation Lore in Faulkner, page 116:

     Allied pilots feared and loathed these, because a hit from a flaming onion instantly turned an aeroplane into an inferno.