Flakvierling 38

Flakvierling 38
A Flakvierling 38 on the roof of the Castle.
Specifications
Name	Flakvierling 38
Type	Anti-aircraft cannon
Ammo	20×138mmB
Weapons Stats
Damage	Very High
Magazine	Unlimited
Total Ammo	N/A
Appearances
Appears in	Wolfenstein
Drops From	Stationary

The Flakvierling 38 (Flugabwehrkanonevierling 38(lit: Anti-Aircraft fourling 38)) is a fixed weapon the player can access in Wolfenstein.

Overview

The Flakvierling 38 (lit. "Anti-aircraft cannon quad 38") was a quadruple mounting of the German Army's FlaK 38 light anti-aircraft gun, firing the same 20x138mm B round as the single cannon variant.

Locations

The first encounter with the Flakvierling 38 is in the mission Castle; a group of four are present on the roof of the Castle and are used to fight the Queen Geist and her minions. These guns are unique in that BJ cannot leave them after entering; they will be destroyed automatically by the queen after each egg sac sequence, leaving the player to quickly run to the next emplacement.

Flakvierlings are later encountered on a rising platform in the mission Radio Tower, overlooking a large yard in the mission Airfield, and on the Zeppelin's gondola; in these cases, BJ can enter and leave these guns voluntarily, though the one at the Radio Station takes longer to dismount than the others. The Zeppelin also has a gun deck with a number of Flakvierlings pointed out of narrow firing ports; these have very limited traverse, but can be used to shoot down the Rocket Troopers who spawn to protect the Zeppelin's engines if the player runs back to them.

Trivia

• In terms of game mechanics, the Flakvierling is functionally a more powerful MG 42; it has infinite ammunition and is governed by a heat gauge, which uses the same icon as the MG 42 heat gauge.
• A Flakvierling actually had a normal crew of eight and the guns were fed with 20-round box magazines; it would require at least two extra people besides BJ to keep it loaded.
• The barrels seem to fire at random; the real weapon has two foot pedals for firing which operated diagonally-opposite barrels.