Bachem Ba 349 Natter

The Bachem Ba 349 Natter was a secretive, vertical take-off, single-seat rocket interceptor intended to offer high-speed defense of key targets. This radical aircraft offered Luftwaffe an inexpensive means with which to intercept and attack Allied heavy bombers using a vertically-launched, semi-expendable machine built of wood and armed with a nose-mounted "honeycomb" battery of spin-stabilized air-to-air rockets, as well as cannon armament. Launched vertically at 36,000 feet per minute, th...