awrc@lfcs.edinburgh.ac.uk (Alan Crawford) (07/27/90)
From: Alan Crawford <awrc@lfcs.edinburgh.ac.uk>
Somebody recently requested information on a German WWII prototype that
took off vertically. It was a while back, so it's possible that
somebody's already replied (our news feed went a bit strange a couple of
days ago) but, just in case, here's what I think was being referred to...
The plane mentioned sounds rather like the Bachem Ba349 Natter (Adder?).
It was rocket powered - one main engine (same as Me163, I think) and 4
smaller solid-fuel rockets strapped to the sides (for lift-off I presume).
Armament consisted of unguided rockets in the nose.
One of the odd things about the beast was that while it was a vertical
take-off machine it didn't land vertically. In fact it didn't land at
all but came down in bits (certainly saves all that messing about trying
to hang the plane from hooks :-) The rocket motor came down on a parachute
(or it may have been the entire tail section, I'm not sure) as did the
pilot (again, he may have remained in the nose section). Although this
approach may have seemed expensive, the plane was made of wood, so only
the `valuable bits' were saved.
What did it look like? It was very small, with short, straight, stubby
wings. It was about the same length as an Me163 but the wings were very
short - length/wingspan ratio not that much better than an F-104.
Oh yeah, and it had a cruciform tail (+ shaped, not x shaped). Altogether
one of the Third Reich's more bizarre efforts. I remember I used to have
a model kit of it when I was a kid. It came in a set with a piloted V-1
(Fieseler 103?). Just reminiscing :-)
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