Bachem Ba 349 Natter
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The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (Viper), a semi-expendable,
vertically-launched, piloted missile, was one of the several
desperate yet ingenious measures improvised to defend the German
skies. The small interceptor was designed by a team headed by Erich
Bachem. The Ba 349 was built using bonded and screwed wooden parts,
a simple metal structure and armored cockpit. The heart and soul of
the aircraft was of course the internal Walter 109-509A-2 liquid fuel
rocket (the same as that of the
Messerschmitt Me 163. Four external Schmidding rockets were used
for launching boost, providing a combined thrust of 4,800kg for 10
seconds before they were jettisoned. Bachem proposed that, as
American bombers approached their target, the Ba 349 would be sent
soaring vertically through the formation. The pilot would pick one
bomber, fire his whole batch of twenty-four 73mm Hs 217 F�hn
(Storm) unguided rockets, use the remaining thrust to climb higher past
the bombers and turn back for a ramming attack. Supposedly the pilot
could trigger a mechanism to release his seat from the fuselage with
the rocket motor right before impact. The "simple" ejection system, however, did not work and the impractical ramming proposal was dropped. The only parts that were saved were the pilot and the rocket motor for re-use. In October 1944 pilotless tests from near-vertical ramp and piloted gliding flights were started. On 28 February 1945 the first manned flight was attempted, resulting in the death of test pilot Oberleutnant Lothar Siebert when the cockpit canopy flew off, and the Ba 349 crashed. Ten Ba 349s were stationed at Kirchheim, but the advancing American forces overran the launch sites before any bombers could be intercepted. |
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Technical data and/or diagram of Bachem Ba 349. |
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Dicta B�lcke: the golden rules for all the successful German fighter aces. |
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A Ba 349A Natter, armed with twenty-four Hs 217 F�hn rockets exposed with the streamlined nosecap removed. The interceptor is strapped to its cradle on which it was then to be transported to the launch gantry on a special trailer. |