# Brengun's little Natter - a real manned missile!



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

When it comes to crazy, desperate ideas executed with inappropriate haste, advanced-yet-available technology and a good side helping of Teutonic efficiency, there’s little doubt that the WWII Luftwaffe has to be champion. Be it rocket planes that were more dangerous to their crews than the enemy or stealthy flying wing fighters, the RLM and German industry were up to a lot of different things as WWII came to a close.

One of the more frightening ones that saw testing and actual deployment was the Bachem Natter. This was a VTO point defence fighter, more akin to a “Manned Missile” than any other aircraft that made it to service, except the Japanese Ohka. Of course, in great German fashion, there were all kinds of tests and prototypes! One such machine was the first (and only) manned article, Natter M23. The good folks at Brengun have actually made a kit of this little (and deadly) oddity. Check it out at the link below!

*https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mo...1-72-bp-20-natter-mustermaschine-m22-m23-oob/*


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I've got the Dragon 1/48 Natters in the stash. Keep meaning to get the little buggers. 



I recently read the Osprey X-Planes volume on this little nasty. There were indeed tons on unmanned tests, most of which went very poorly for the airplane. But the SS pushed and pushed to get this thing into service, and the factory was cranking them out before tests were complete.


Here's a picture taken just before the first and only manned test. Test pilot Lothar Sieber is seen conferring with the designer, Herr Erich Bachem himself:
http://www.inpayne.com/temp/natter.jpg


Sieber climbed into M23, and the rocket was launched. Observers saw the canopy torn off by the slipstream just before the vehicle disappeared into the clouds. Less than a minute later, it dove out of the clouds several kilometers away and slammed into the ground, making a 5-meter-deep crater. There wasn't enough left of the plane to figure out what happened, or of Sieber to autopsy. The only theory is that the headrest, which was attached to the canopy, broke his neck when it ripped off.


The SS declared the test results acceptable :freak: , and ordered more. Luckily for allied bombers and German test pilots, the war ended before this little bastard killed anyone else.


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## terryr (Feb 11, 2001)

John P said:


> The SS declared the test results acceptable.


Oh yes mein fuhrer, it works perfectly mein fuhrer.


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## finaprint (Jan 29, 2006)

And it can carry bombs in dive bombing attacks too............

Hilarious. I always wondered what a jolt that pilot felt at rocket ignition...............they were actually trying to figure out how to launch them from telephone poles. 

I have the Dragon kit as well.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Oh the SS and their toys :freak:


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## StarCruiser (Sep 28, 1999)

Well... The SS were never accused of being the brightest knife in the drawer, or sharpest bulb on the tree :freak:


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## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

StarCruiser said:


> Well... The SS were never accused of being the brightest knife in the drawer, or sharpest bulb on the tree :freak:


When you consider this and the Reichenberg piloted V1s, that is a difficult sentiment to contradict!


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