Miloch <Miloch_member@newsguy.com> wrote in
news:prcac30jie@drn.newsguy.com:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachem_Ba_349
>
> The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (English: Colubrid, grass-snake) was a World
> War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to
> be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile.
> After a vertical take-off, which eliminated the need for airfields,
> most of the flight to the Allied bombers was to be controlled by an
> autopilot. The primary role of the relatively untrained pilot was to
> aim the aircraft at its target bomber and fire its armament of
> rockets. The pilot and the fuselage containing the rocket-motor would
> then land using separate parachutes, while the nose section was
> disposable. The only manned vertical take-off flight on 1 March 1945
> ended in the death of the test pilot, Lothar Sieber.
>
> In 1943 Luftwaffe air superiority was being challenged by the Allies
> over the Reich and radical innovations were required to overcome the
> crisis. Surface-to-air missiles appeared to be a promising approach to
> counter the Allied strategic bombing offensive; a variety of projects
> were started, but invariably problems with the guidance and homing
> systems prevented any of these from attaining operational status.
> Providing the missile with a pilot, who could operate a weapon during
> the brief terminal approach phase, offered a solution. Submissions for
> a simple target defence interceptor were requested by the Luftwaffe in
> early 1944 under the umbrella of the "Emergency Fighter Program". A
> number of simple designs were proposed, including the Heinkel P.1077
> Julia, in which the pilot lay prone (on his stomach), to reduce the
> frontal area. The Julia was the front-runner for the contract. The
> initial plan was to launch the aircraft vertically, but this concept
> was later changed to a conventional horizontal take-off from a
> tricycle-wheeled trolley, similar to that used by the first eight
> prototypes of the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber.
>
> The Natter was designed to be built by unskilled labor with
> poor-quality tools and inexpensive material. Various stringent
> economies were imposed on an already frugal design. The Natter had no
> landing gear, which saved weight, expense, and construction time.
> Consequently, one of the most unusual features of the machine was the
> escape of the pilot and recovery of the machine. The proposed sequence
> of these events was as follows: After the attack, the Natter might
> dive to a lower altitude and flatten out into level flight. The pilot
> would then proceed with a well-practised escape sequence. He would
> open the cockpit canopy latch; the canopy flicking backwards on its
> hinge in the airstream; he would undo his seat belt and remove his
> feet from the rudder pedal stirrups. By squeezing a lever mounted on
> the control column, he would release a lock at the base of the column,
> which would allow him to tilt the column forwards where it could
> engage in and undo a safety latch for the nose release mechanism. He
> would then lean a little further forward and pull a lever hinged near
> the floor at the front of the cockpit. This action frees the nose
> section, which self-jettisoned as a result of the reduced aerodynamic
> pressure at the front of the fuselage. As the nose section separates,
> it was intended to briefly pull on two cables that release a small
> ribbon parachute stored on the starboard side of the rear fuselage.
> The parachute subsequently opens and decelerates the Natter. The pilot
> would be ejected from the cockpit by his own inertia and as soon as he
> was clear of the fuselage, he would open his personal parachute and
> descend to the ground.
>
> A parachute was to eject the valuable Walter rocket motor from the
> rear, which would decelerate the aircraft and eject the pilot with
> inertia, but associated problems were still not fully resolved prior
> to the war's end.
A very complicated process to shoot
down just one bomber, esp at a time when
every mission contained hundreds of bombers.
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