Kyushuj7w
Airman 1st Class
I used to travel in the old job. Hong Kong was one locale that at the time posessed a number of great hobbyshops for models and diecast dirt cheap. Most are now long gone as the latest generation of kids have no desire to sit still long enough to build a kit. I watched as the diecast slowly vanished then the model aircraft kits to be replaced by robot type models and AFV's . The golden age of collecting and building for the masses is behind us, Most kids can't afford the cost of a kit today along with the paints and tools much less many diecast. My wife could not figure out why I was always willing to spend hours in the morning and evenings doing this.... but since getting back into the model airfield vehicles I found it relaxing and enjoyable except for the UML kit mocking me in the corner to try to finish it . For a little over $10 US I couldn't beat this little rocket plane so in my bag home it went. My skills leave much to be desired but it was small so I figured I can't have fouled it up too bad. Interesting subject.
They never really got the mobile telephone pole launcher tested but they did build several static launching platforms....not much more than a circle of poured concrete with a small pit to facilitate the launch pole. The Ba 349 was planned as one of the options for defending the airspace of the Third Reich. Point defense similar to the short ranged Me163. The pilot in this case is launched, fires his battery of rockets, the rocket breaks up with the expensive motor floating down with the pilot via parachute. The only test killed the test pilot.
A Natter launch pad in the woods near Kircheim Germany. The plan supposedly was a trio of launch sites scattered about near high value targets.
Only three launch pads were built for Bachem Ba 349, in 1945 in the Hasenholz forest near Kirchheim unter Teck . The ramps were arranged in a triangle with an edge length of about 120 m. It was a concrete slab in the center of which was a square depression with an edge of 50 cm in which stood a launch tower. Only the last ramp has been preserved in its original place. The other two were dredged during the construction of the road and moved to the edge of the forest.
The machine was guided to a height, where the bombers flew by radio control system from the ground and then the pilot took control. When he was sure of a hit, he fired a volley of rockets placed in his nose and ejected or waited, guiding the plane so that it hit the tail of another of the bombers, and only then ejected. Although the pilot should survive, it was practically a suicide weapon
The plan was a trio of launch pads but only a few were built & they still exist in some woods off the beaten path in Germany. . I have always liked this aircraft as it did get launched in test and was captured by the US army at wars end I'm sure a few pilots would have taken a shot had the war lasted a few more weeks. Amazing what people will do when their home is threatened.
The launching ramp was more trouble to build than the Natter. I left the solid and plexiglass nose cones off. I've never see a photo of one with the plexiglass nose cone and the one provided with the model looks a bit thick and unnatural for lack of a better word. With the situation what it was in March-April I doubt the materials for the plexiglass cone would have been available. The nose cone was to have an ejection mechanism but surprisingly the small book I have on the Natter never mentions this. I bet in the excitement of launch and with only seconds to line up and fire the pilot would have launched through the glass in error. I built this with the block and tackle hoist blocks in place...no where in the book did it clearly show how it was locked in place once hoisted up...obviously the ropes and harness had to be removed..perhaps the rail that is grooved had a guide pin and hold blocks the fuselage rested on...... Still researching this. The Russians captured a few as did we....there is some speculation on one launch before years end but like the ME-163, He162 and other claims in the last week of the war it can't be proven....
In February 1945, the SS command began to run out of patience and ordered to make at least one manned flight that month. This did not happen until the first of March 1945. Test pilot Lothar Sieberhe started with the Ba 349A M 23 machine from the launch pad in the Lager Heuberg military training area. At first it seemed that everything was fine, but one of the Schmidding engines terminated service and the machine subsequently became unmanageable. At 500 meters, the cockpit opened as Sieber tried to get out. He was instructed by radio to leave the plane, but lost focus in the clouds, so he didn't know he had turned to the ground. As the braking parachute did not open the plane hit the ground at full speed. Sieber was dead on the spot. The accident was explained as a fault in the cockpit cover, which was not well secured. The photographs of the crashed machine were modified so that the FuG 16 radio station through which Sieber received instructions could not be seen. During a survey around the base in 1998, the remains of the hull were found. A total of 36 Natters were built, 18 were used for unmanned tests, two crashed (one in a motorless flight, the other with Siebert). Of the remaining 16, 10 were burned, 4 ended up in the USA , 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in the USSR , which was captured in Thuringia , where it served as a model for local producers. Of the four American Natters, only one was fired, an unmanned flight from Muroc Army Air Base ended in an accident.
They never really got the mobile telephone pole launcher tested but they did build several static launching platforms....not much more than a circle of poured concrete with a small pit to facilitate the launch pole. The Ba 349 was planned as one of the options for defending the airspace of the Third Reich. Point defense similar to the short ranged Me163. The pilot in this case is launched, fires his battery of rockets, the rocket breaks up with the expensive motor floating down with the pilot via parachute. The only test killed the test pilot.
Only three launch pads were built for Bachem Ba 349, in 1945 in the Hasenholz forest near Kirchheim unter Teck . The ramps were arranged in a triangle with an edge length of about 120 m. It was a concrete slab in the center of which was a square depression with an edge of 50 cm in which stood a launch tower. Only the last ramp has been preserved in its original place. The other two were dredged during the construction of the road and moved to the edge of the forest.
The machine was guided to a height, where the bombers flew by radio control system from the ground and then the pilot took control. When he was sure of a hit, he fired a volley of rockets placed in his nose and ejected or waited, guiding the plane so that it hit the tail of another of the bombers, and only then ejected. Although the pilot should survive, it was practically a suicide weapon
The plan was a trio of launch pads but only a few were built & they still exist in some woods off the beaten path in Germany. . I have always liked this aircraft as it did get launched in test and was captured by the US army at wars end I'm sure a few pilots would have taken a shot had the war lasted a few more weeks. Amazing what people will do when their home is threatened.
The launching ramp was more trouble to build than the Natter. I left the solid and plexiglass nose cones off. I've never see a photo of one with the plexiglass nose cone and the one provided with the model looks a bit thick and unnatural for lack of a better word. With the situation what it was in March-April I doubt the materials for the plexiglass cone would have been available. The nose cone was to have an ejection mechanism but surprisingly the small book I have on the Natter never mentions this. I bet in the excitement of launch and with only seconds to line up and fire the pilot would have launched through the glass in error. I built this with the block and tackle hoist blocks in place...no where in the book did it clearly show how it was locked in place once hoisted up...obviously the ropes and harness had to be removed..perhaps the rail that is grooved had a guide pin and hold blocks the fuselage rested on...... Still researching this. The Russians captured a few as did we....there is some speculation on one launch before years end but like the ME-163, He162 and other claims in the last week of the war it can't be proven....
To this day, three Ba 349s have been preserved. They are in the United States, the first is at the National Aviation Museum in Washington, and the other two are at the Smithsonian Institution Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
