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Bachem Ba 349 Natter |
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Why do crazy scientist who want to rule the earth speak with a German accent? Because they build planes like this one; the Bachem 349 Natter. A small interceptor fighter, mostly build from plywood, also known asl 'manned flack granade'... Launched vertical, partly remote controlled. The pilot would only have controll during the last part of the flight; he would have to aim the entire plane, fire all 24 or 32 air to air rockets in one go, and then he would be free to save himself. And that went like this: Unfasten seatbelts, unhook controll colum. Unhook nose of the plane. Deploy parachute at the back of the plane. Front of the plane, controlls and instrument panel drop off, along with the pilotl. He is now free to use his own parachute...
Crazy? Probably, but realise the spaceshuttle has the same engine configuration; liquid fuel rocket engine, with solid boosters to assist in take off. Not completely craze i guess |
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The kit was from Revell, and had a nice 'small' launchtower as well. To be honnest; the launchtower was more of a hassle to build then the actual plane. A couple of guiderails have to meet up with metal supports, and that was about the hardest part in the entire kit. The plane itself went together easy and with no porblems whatsoever. I still had several parts from the Me 163 cockpit, and since the Natter had the same Walter rocket engine, I decided to use them to fill up the Natter cockpit. I also made some seatbelts from a scanned decal sheet. Just printing and cutting them, simple...
When looking for information on the Natter, I came across some nice pictures of a Natter after the war, on a transport crate. At some point during the build up, I decided to work in that direction for a while. No air to air rockets in the nose, as I was building a testplane, but otherwise... So after painting the basic undergound for the camouflage I took some pictures of the model on a crate. The crate was made from sheet plastic. As it turned out, I had build the model to clea' I hade to deepen some panel lines quite a bit to look like the picture. |
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For those who thought the Natter was just another paper project; think again. Here are some pictures I found on the webb, with the Natter during testflights.
At first, the Natter was launched from a Heinkel He 111 bomber, to glide down. The testpilot, Hans Zupert, praised the handling at speeds between 200 and 680 km/h. After these glide tests, unmanned launches where preformed, with remote controll. This remote control would be used on the manned flight as well, since no one was sure the pilot would remain concious during the take off.
Finaly, on May first 1945, testpilot Lothat Siebert climbed on board for the first manned launch. It also became the first manned rocked flight. With fatal results; he broke his neck when the cockpit cover came off during take off... |
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measurements
length: 5,72 m.
Height: 2,20 m.
Wingspan: 3,60 m.
Wingsurface: 3,60 m�
weight (empty): 800 kg.
Weight (loaded): 1630-2050 kg.
Speed: 1000 km/u
Range: 45-70 km.
Ceiling: 16.000 m.
velocity: 21 m./sec.
climbrate: 10 sec./ 1180 m. (disposal boosters)
21 sec./ 3000 m.
36 sec./ 6000 m.
48 sec./ 9000 m.
55 sec./ 12.000 m.
weapons: 24 Hs 217 F�hn air to air rockets (73 mm) or later
32 R4M 55 mm air to air rockets |
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Ah yes, and what happened after the war? Unlike many other rocket scientists, the designer of the Natter was not happily carried off on shoulders by the allied forces. He remained in Germany. After a befitting period of de-nazification, he set up shop. His products remained small, light and mostly build from plywood. He became more famous as the designer of small caravans, then he had ever been as a rocked pioneer. His name? Erich Bachem... |
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