In 1944 an extraordinary, highly-secret rocket fighter, armed with a nose-mounted "honeycomb" of 73 or 55 mm spin-stabilised air-to-air rockets as well as Mk 108s was developed and built in small quantity. Some of them were used for flight tests before the end of the hostilities. The Natter was intended to offer high-speed defence of key targets. Once blasted into the air from its vertical launch tower, the pilot of the Natter was to climb towards an enemy formation using an internal rocket, target an enemy bomber and fire his battery of rockets. He would then use the remaining kinetic enercy to climb higher than the bombers in order to mount a ramming attack. Just before impact, the pilot was to trigger a mechanism that would activate an ejection seat an separate the rocket unit, which would return to earth by means of an automaticall deployed parachute for reuse. 170 b/w- and colour illustrations (photographs and profiles) are shown.

Author: Gooden, Brett
Pages: 144
Language: English
Edition: 1
Year of publication: 2006
Dimensions: 30 x 22,5 cm
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50 kg