Editing Bachem Ba 349 Natter (section)

===Production===
The SS ordered 150 Natters, and the ''Luftwaffe'' ordered 50, but none were delivered by the end of the war.{{r|ley194811}} Much debate has surrounded the number of Natters built at the Bachem-Werk and their disposition. According to Bachem, 36 ''Natters'' were produced at the Bachem-Werk in [[Bad Waldsee|Waldsee]] by the end of the war.<ref name=c4/>  Up to April 1945, 17 aircraft had been used in unmanned trials comprising five gliders, all slung under an He 111 in the ''Mistelschlepp'' configuration prior to launch, and 12 VTO examples. Five aircraft were prepared for manned trials, four gliders and one VTO version. The M3 was flown twice, and then rebuilt at which time it was given the new code BM3a but was never flown. The total number of launches to early April 1945 was 22, as was the total number of Natters constructed up to that time.<ref name="Bachem 1952, pp. 89-96"/> Bachem reported further that there were 14 more finished or almost finished aircraft in April 1945. Four of these were prototype A1 operational Natters built for test launching from a wooden pole launcher, which had been designed for field deployment.<ref>Bachem-Werk 1945b</ref> This new launcher was also constructed on the Heuberg, not far from the experimental steel tower. There is documentary evidence for two pole launches in April but not three as claimed by Bachem in his post-war presentation.<ref name="Bachem 1952, pp. 89-96"/> The documentation for this third flight may have been destroyed by the SS at war's end. Ten A1 operational Natters, called ''K-Maschinen'', were constructed for the ''Krokus-Einsatz'' ("Operation Crocus").<ref name="Reyle 1998, pp. 70-73"/>

The fate of these 14 A1 Natters was as follows:
Three were fired from the vertical launch tower according to Bachem, four were burnt at Waldsee, two were burnt at ''Lager'' Schlatt, [[Oetztal]], [[Austria]], four were captured by US troops at [[Sankt Leonhard im Pitztal]], Austria,<ref name="Bratt 1945"/> and one, which had been sent as a sample model to a new factory in [[Thuringia]], was captured by the [[Red Army]].<ref name="Bachem 1952, pp. 89-96"/> Consequently, the total of 36 test and operational aircraft constructed at the Bachem-Werk can be accounted for. However, Natter carcasses were used for a variety of ground-based purposes; for example, as a static booster rocket, armament and strength testing and pilot seat position tests. Some fuselages were reused after flight testing; for example, the M5, 6 and 7.<ref>Bachem-Werk 1945c</ref>

Of the four Natters captured at Sankt Leonhard im Pitztal, two went to the United States.<ref name="Gooden 2006, pp. 115-120">Gooden 2006, pp. 115–120.</ref> Only one original Natter built in Germany in the Second World War survives in storage at the [[Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility]] in [[Suitland, Maryland]], under the auspices of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]. The fate of the other Natter brought to the US is unknown. There is no documentary evidence that a Natter was ever flown from [[Edwards Air Force Base|Muroc Field]]. The tail section of one of the Natters at Sankt Leonhard im Pitztal was broken off while it still rested on its trailer.<ref>Gooden, Brett. ''Natter Photographic Archive,'' 2011.</ref>