"Coming out of the cloud bank, we could see tracers coming up from many angles. There was a tremendous racket such as experienced when flying through hail."
-Radio Operator Roger Airgood
Flying Through Hail is the sixth and final mission in Medal of Honor: Airborne. It takes place in a partially destroyed third-generation flak tower in Essen.
This map is set in the city of Essen, Germany, several kilometers from the original factory drop zone shown in the previous mission. Der Flakturm is a massive, concrete structure, with several 128mm FlaK 40 anti-aircraft guns at the very top. It is not particularly large in terms of width, but is very tall. The tower itself is located within the bombed-out remains of a residential district.
On the southeastern side of the tower, between the uppermost roof level and the lower ring around it, there's a small balcony with a chute on it. Land through the doorway.
There's a pretty obvious chute on the scaffolding.
The secret entrance. There's a very tough-to-spot window on the northwestern corner of the tower, above one of the markers for one of the halftrack soldiers. The easiest way to find the window is to land on top of the tower and head downwards completing objectives. After destroying the ammo lift controls on the fourth floor, take the ladder in the room downward to the semi-hidden ammo cache room.
On the wester
Der Flaktürm, a large structure capable of defending an entire city from an armada of Allied airplanes and paratroopers.
n side of the tower, in the middle of all the sniper's scaffoldings, there's a set of small windows, including one with a chute in it.
This is on the ground floor. If you look from the tower back towards your ground drop zone, it'll be on the second floor of the house on the left.
It's best to use SMGs or assault rifles/light machine guns in this mission. Rifles can take down enemies at long range but are more difficult to use against the Nazi Storm Elite troops.
The STG-44 and BAR are highly recommended to use against the Nazi Storm Elites, as they can take them down with several shots to the chest with half a magazine.
The Shotgun is pretty useful for close-quarter fights, and can kill most enemies sans the Nazi Storm Elites in one or two hits to the chest.
The M18 recoilless rifle and Panzerschreck are pretty useful when destroying the AA and artillery guns on the roof, as it's far less dangerous and time consuming than trying to plant a charge on the guns.
The wall of the roof blocks any attack to the AA guns from the roof. But you can throw Gammon grenades over the notch near every AA guns to destroy them.
Alternatively, Gammon grenades can be used to take out the AA and artillery mounts, as well as deal with the Nazi Storm Elites.
This mission shared the same location as the previous mission. It can clearly be seen while parachuting. In this mission, you can see the Ruhr Factory District from anywhere, but you can only see the Flak Tower from one of the sniper water towers in Operation Varsity.
The Flak Tower shown in this mission is based on a real-life tower (according to an in-game video log) that is still standing in Germany today - But not in Essen.
There has never been a Flak tower in Essen.
In reallife the only cities to have Flak towers where Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna.
There were plans to build some in Munich and Bremen, but these plans were ultimately cancelled.
There has never been airborne units invading Essen by air.
Operation Varsitys main goal (around Wesel) is mainly farmland and the Rhine to the west. Only small towns are in the vicinity. Essen is to the SE bust far away from the drop zones.
This is the only mission where the C96 Mauser is available in the Weapon Loadout menu.
The track "Das Flakturm" played during the level appears to draw heavily on Vienna-style waltzes.
It should be noted that the track's name is incorrect. The correct name would be "Der Flakturm" according to the german grammar.
If you land on the highest level of one of the houses on the right, you have access to an M18 recoiless rifle.
If you go to the 2nd floor of the Ammunition Storage where the enemies come down, you have access to a shotgun and a ammo box.
Sometimes 1~2 panzergrenadiers will spawn near the stairs of the roof of the tower when you are moving to the stairs. But if you run very fast, they will not spawn.
"Der Flakturm" translates to The Flak Tower.
This is the only mission in the game where you have to opportunity to use a rocket launcher against a Nazi Storm Elite soldier.
In real life, there has been no record of any missions undertaken to destroy flak towers such as the one in the mission.
This makes it the only mission (not counting the tutorial) not to be based on a real life Airborne Operation.
Background Music[]
"Rescuing the G3 officer" (before jump) (MoH Soundtrack)
"The Halftrack Chase" (MoH: Frontline Soundtrack)
"Approaching the Tarmac" (General background) (MoH: Frontline Soundtrack)
