Re:Cleaning up after WWII (2017)
by pimlottc on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @09:06AM
(#41379052)
Holy cow, I had not heard of this one-man German manually guided rocket before, the Bachem Ba-349 Natter:
> Rocket-powered, it took off vertically from a launch pole, and was guided at near-transonic speed by an autopilot. At the last moment, the pilot took over and aligned the nose, which was filled with unguided rockets, at an enemy bomber. After the one-time attack, the Natter split in half. The engine parachuted down for re-use, the nose section was discarded, and the pilot (who was “spit out” of the open nose by inertia as the tail section parachute opened) separately parachuted to safety.
Truly a weapon of desperation. Imagine being asked to climb into one of those things...
> Only 36 Ba-349s were built and only one flew one time, killing the pilot.
> Rocket-powered, it took off vertically from a launch pole, and was guided at near-transonic speed by an autopilot. At the last moment, the pilot took over and aligned the nose, which was filled with unguided rockets, at an enemy bomber. After the one-time attack, the Natter split in half. The engine parachuted down for re-use, the nose section was discarded, and the pilot (who was “spit out” of the open nose by inertia as the tail section parachute opened) separately parachuted to safety.
Truly a weapon of desperation. Imagine being asked to climb into one of those things...
> Only 36 Ba-349s were built and only one flew one time, killing the pilot.