Rebels fire heavy weapons into the air in celibration get bombed.

[Freiwillige]

And more of this story here.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110402/...bi_ge/af_libya

Now I am not a rocket scientist but I am guessing that firing heavy weapons into the sky (I imagine they had tracers) filled with coalition aircraft is not the brightest of ideas

Also if you are in a fight for your survival and everything is in short supply, why would you waste precious ammo?!?!?!

I wonder about these rebels.

[Oberon]

They're not exactly the best of the best of the best.

[Gargamel]

He said there were four cars and an ambulance in the convoy and everybody was shocked when one of the men fired into the air.
"We all turned to him and said "why the hell did you do that?' He said it was a mistake, then pulled out of the convoy and drove back to Ajdabiya. Moments later there was an airstrike.

Sounds like some 13 year old TK'ing on an online game.

But this is real......

[Schroeder]

I've always wondered about the ammo supply myself. Why do they always shoot into the air when I see some of them on TV? Isn't there a weapon embargo or something in place that prevents new ammo to be shipped their way? Do the TV teams hand out extra ammo to get a good scene? It doesn't make bloody sense.

[tater]

Just what we want, to teach the MB and AQ in Libya fire discipline.

[Platapus]

Reminds me of the rescue strobes we used to issue aircrews. These were powerful white strobes that were to be used to signal the rescue Helos.

What we found out in Viet Nam was that the crew on the rescue Helo would see flashes of white light and think it was small arms fire and "deal" with it appropriately, which would be very inappropriate for the downed aircrew.

An Infra-red filter was the fix.

I don't know what it is about those cultures that celebrate by firing weapons in the air. I guess they can't afford firecrackers.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I don't know what it is about those cultures that celebrate by firing weapons in the air. I guess they can't afford firecrackers.

There was an incident a couple of years ago, when they were firing into the air during a bosnian wedding. It's a tradition since the kalashnikov was invented. So they were firing into the air in celebration and a light airplane, a Cesna I believe was shot down while flying low.