Editing Bachem Ba 349 Natter (section)

===Bachem's proposal===
The Natter was first conceived by Dr [[Erich Bachem]] in August 1944, after witnessing an American bombing raid on a major German city. He believed there ought to be a way to break up these large formations of bombers.{{Sfn|Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers|1966|p=35}} His BP-20 ("Natter") was a development from a design he had worked on at Fieseler, the [[Fieseler Fi 166|Fi 166]] concept, but considerably more radical than the other submissions.<ref>Green 1970, p. 65.</ref> It was built using glued and nailed wooden parts with an armour-plated bulkhead and bulletproof glass windshield at the front of the cockpit. The initial plan was to power the machine with a [[Walter HWK 109-509]]A-2 rocket engine; however, only the 109-509A-1, as used in the [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet|Me 163]], was available.<ref>Gooden 2006, pp. 124–127.</ref> It had a sea level thrust variable between {{convert|100|kg|abbr=on}} at "idle" to {{convert|1,600|kg|abbr=on}} at full power, with the ''Natter's'' intended quartet of rear flank-mount [[Schmidding SG34]] [[solid fuel]] rocket boosters used in its vertical launch to provide an additional {{convert|4,800|kg|lb|abbr=on}} thrust for 10 seconds before they burned out and were jettisoned. The experimental prototypes slid up a {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=on}}-tall vertical steel launch tower for a maximum sliding length of {{convert|17|m|ft|abbr=on}} in three guideways, one for each wing tip and one for the lower tip of the ventral tail fin. By the time the aircraft left the tower it was hoped that it would have achieved sufficient speed to allow its aerodynamic surfaces to provide stable flight.<ref name="Reyle 1998, pp. 70-73">Reyle 1998, pp. 70–73.</ref><ref>Bachem-Werk 1944, pp. 183–185.</ref>

Under operational conditions, once the Natter had left the launcher, it would be guided to the proximity of the Allied bombers by an autopilot with the possibility of an added beam guidance similar to that used in some V-2 rocket launches. Only then would the pilot take control, aim and fire the armament, which was originally proposed to be a salvo of nineteen 55mm [[R4M]] rockets.<ref name="Bachem 1944a">Bachem 1944a</ref> Later, 28 R4Ms or a number of the larger, 73mm [[Henschel Hs 297]] ''Föhn'' rockets were suggested,<ref>Köster 1944.{{page needed|date=June 2014}}</ref> with either variety of unguided rocket fired from the Natter's nose-mounted cellular launch tubes. The Natter was intended to fly up and over the bombers, by which time its Walter engine would probably be out of propellant. Following its one-time attack with its rockets, the pilot would dive his Natter, now effectively a glider, to an altitude of around {{convert|3,000|m|ft|abbr=on}}, flatten out, release the nose of the aircraft and a small braking parachute from the rear fuselage. The fuselage would decelerate and the pilot would be ejected forwards by his own momentum and land by means of a personal parachute.<ref>Christopher, p. 153.</ref>

In an early proposal in August 1944, the Natter design had a concrete nose; it was suggested that the machine might ram a bomber, but this proposal was subsequently withdrawn in later Project Natter outlines. Bachem stated clearly in the initial proposal that the Natter was not a [[suicide weapon]] and much effort went into designing safety features for the pilot.<ref name="Bachem 1944a"/> However, owing to the potential dangers for the pilot inherent in the operation of this precarious aircraft, the Natter is sometimes listed as a suicide craft.<ref>[http://discaircraft.greyfalcon.us/German%20Suicidal%20Aircraft.htm German Suicidal Aircraft]</ref> The design had one decisive advantage over its competitors – it eliminated the necessity to land an unpowered gliding machine at an airbase, which, as the history of the Me 163 rocket aircraft had clearly demonstrated, made an aircraft extremely vulnerable to attack by Allied fighters.