The first and only manned vertical take-off flight of the Bachem Ba 349 “Natter” (Viper in German) took place on 1 March 1945. On board the strange craft was test pilot 22-year-old Lothar Sieber. Before he became a test pilot for Bachem, Sieber piloted an Arado Ar 232 in highly risky sorties.
Low stratus clouds lay over the Ochsenkopf. The Walter liquid-fuelled rocket engine built up to full thrust when at 11.00 the button to ignite the four solid boosters where pushed. Initially, the Natter (German for Viper) rose vertically but, at an altitude of about 100 to 150 m (330 to 490 ft), it suddenly pitched up into an inverted curve at about 30° to the vertical. At about 500 m (1,600 ft) the cockpit canopy was seen to fly off. The Natter continued to climb at high speed at an angle of 15° from the horizontal and disappeared into the clouds. The Walter engine stalled about 15 seconds after take-off. It is estimated the Natter reached 1,500 m (4,900 ft), at which point it nose-dived and hit the ground with great force about 32 seconds later, some kilometres from the launch site.
Sieber, the pilot, was likely unconscious long before the crash. The theory was that he had involuntarily pulled back on the control column under the effect of the 3 G acceleration. That alone did not cause his demise. On examination of the canopy, which fell near the launch site, showed the tip of the latch was bent, suggesting it may not have been in the fully closed position at launch. Sieber's headrest had been attached to the underside of the canopy and as the canopy flew off his head would have snapped back suddenly about 25 cm (9.8 in), hitting the solid wooden rear upper cockpit bulkhead, and either knocking him unconscious or breaking his neck.
By then Germany was struggling to counter the relentless Allied daylight bombing raids that were slowly laying the country to waste and causing severe shortages of both aircraft and trained pilots. The Luftwaffe explored alternative solutions. Among these was the concept of a manned, rocket-powered interceptor capable of quickly reaching enemy bomber formations and delivering a devastating attack before the pilot ejected to safety.
One of the designs was the Bachem Ba 349 Natter the brainchild of Erich Bachem. The Natter, a radical departure from conventional fighter aircraft, was a last-ditch point-defence interceptor that I was hoped would devastate the thousand bomber formations that flew with impunity on their missions of destruction.
Powered by a combination of one liquid-fuel rocket engine and four Schmidding SG 34 solid-fuel booster rockets, the Natter was designed for vertical launch from a ground-based pad, guided initially by an autopilot system similar to that used in the V-2 rocket.
Launchpad Once in proximity to enemy bombers, the pilot would assume control, line up for an attack, and fire a battery of 28 55mm R4M rockets. The Ba 349's single-use Walter HWK 109-509C-1 bi-fuel rocket engine provided just enough thrust to reach altitude before the aircraft entered a steep dive. in theory capable of reaching its target in just over a minute, the “Natter” had a projected top speed of 620 mph and a proposed operational range of 25-37 miles, depending on altitude.
The pilot had only one opportunity to fire at his target before bailing out, at which point the aircraft's nose and fuselage were designed to break away, allowing for a rapid escape.
Even though 36 Ba 349s were built the Natter never saw combat. Today, only two examples survive. The most complete resides at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility. Captured by U.S. troops in Austria in May 1945, this airframe remains in storage and will require extensive preservation work before any potential public display. The only intact Natter launch pad still stands in Hasenholz, Germany, with remnants of others nearby.
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