german mini suicide planes!

u.s. scientists discover mini suicide planes?

US Army Scientists Discover Rare Mini- German Suicide Planes

 

suicide planes is really not the correct wording, more like last ditch bomber destroyers. The Bachem "Natter" was a joke being propelled off a nearly vertical wood platform the test pilots had broken necks after take off due to extreme forces to the body. The idea once airborne was to close with a bomber box and release the nose rockets then glide back to earth and if need be bail out and jettison the tail rocket booster assembly with the parachute if attacked by Allied fighters.

 

ok,thanks for explaining that erich..ray..

 

Interesting site you found Ray. Does anyone know did this plane ever make it into combat? I remember reading something in ww2 magazine about Hannh Reitsch wanting to lead a group of suicide planes into combat and I think they were in the midst of recruiting and the idea was canned. Thank God it probably spared quite a few bomber crews lives.

 

thanks eric,I'm sure erich will come up with that answer,regards ray..

 

thats a new one for me they were prepared to do whatever it took to win it's just when the time came it was to late

 

The Natter was never used in combat. A base equipped with 10 units had been established around Kirchheim but was overrun be American Forces before they could be used. The first test pilot was killed when his canopy failed.

Hanna Reitsch has a number of volunteers to flay the Fieseler Fi 103 (a manned V-1) and targets had even been picked out, but Upper Command canceled it. The Fieseler like Erich mentioned above with the Natter was never intended to be a suicide plane, however the pilot had to jump out of the aircraft right in front of the engine intake which probably would not happen.

 

Also seem to recall somewhere the Germans considered suicide pilots. I find it interesting how the mind set differed from the Germans to the Japanese in regards to suicide missions.

 

Poppy,

your probably thinking of Sonderkommando "Elbe", a unit specifically created to crash their planes(Me-109s) into attacking US bombers. However, while it may sound suicidal, a lot of emphasis was placed on personal survival.

You may also be thinking of the so called "Rammjager" which was a term given to the Sturmjager FW-190s, which were heavily armored in the hopes that these planes would survive while "getting up close and personal" with the large daylight bomber formations. In some cases these pilots did ram bombers, but that was never their given intention.

 

I watched i documentary on that unit they way the collided on the bombers were funny (All the missions they showed no one got hurt).

 

The Natter is essentially a manned surface to air missile. The pilot is launched with the "missile," guides it to its target, fires the warhead (R4M rockets) and, then ejects himself. The rocket motor and pilot are then recovered.... in a perfect world alive and intact.....in late war Germany not so much.....

 

The odds of surviving a ramming in air were sketchy . You'd have to be very brave and lucky eh ? I have read of valiant pilots ramming. I think the Soviets may have done it a few times. Not sure they were instructed to do so though.....Also what year were the Elbe and Rammjager created? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

actually Sonderkommando Elbe pilots were not suppose to die in suicidal fashion but at the last moment bail out ............good luck April of 1945.

Rammjäger term is a mis-nomer as some of the pilots of the former 3 Sturmgruppen told me that was not their name-title but Sturm(storm); close-in fighting with heavily armored and armed Fw 190A-8/R2 variant and then closing to within 50 yds range before banking away.
the Ramm portion as it was known in many books is the confusing order by the originator von Kornatski who said do anything to take down a US heavy bomber even by ramming. The pilots were then "supoosedly" ordered to sign accordingly that they would indeed take down a bomber by whatever means as Sturmstaffel 1 broke up into the two units IV.Sturm/JG 3 and then later in August of 1944, II.Sturm/JG 4, the staffel/squadron leaders did not hold the pilots accountable and only very few rammings, many quite by accident took place.

Sturmstaffel 1 flew first missions in December of 43 while IV.Sturm/JG 3 started in the rear attack-Sturm mode in May of 1944 along with the famous II.Sturm/JG 300, II.Sturm/JG 4 came later as I mentioned in august of 1944.

 

V.B.- wasn't the Natter rocket powered? No engine inlet. Being hit by the tail would hurt on ejection though.

 

yes launched off a near vertical ramp the G's forces if you will broke the pilots neck(s) every time, non-operational unit and you can see why.

 

The closest i heard the soviets was they brought down German planes with their propeller thanks to Stalin the Soviets could have had a jet aircraft by 1945 but Stalin canceled the project in 1943 it was 70% complete. matter in fact before the great purges the soviets had some of the most brilliant aircraft designers and some pretty interesting plane designs from jets the planes going to the atmosphere.Their was one Russian plane the flew from Siberia to either Washington,organ,or Alaska i forgot witch one but it was pretty impressive over a 100 mile travel.Of course Roosevelt wasn't pleased by the trip but most of those brillitaint men where dead,in prison,or in a Siberian work camp/gulag.They say Stalin was so hard on them was because once he was on a plane and it hit a air pocket and scared the crap out of him.

 

Most times Erich speaks, the hair on my forearms stands on end. Even though it is 32 degrees in here. A pleasure .

 

pardon me Poppy for answering to you I see posted the question to T.A.

apoligies

 

Erich, do not apologize. My question was/is for everyone. I am thrilled with your post. To hear you have spoken with the very men concerned with this topic...Wow. Rock Star status.lol... TA is the bomb too. ....

 

There were actually 6 successful launches with pilots and 25 total launches made. So, the Natter could have been used successfully if the US bomber group flew close enough to the launch positions. Now, how successful they would have been against a live target.... who knows? Probably not all that successful.