“Unveiling the Bizarre: How Nazi Germany Crafted a Wooden Weapon of War That Defied Belief”
Measuring only 6 metres long and 4 metres wide, the Natter was a very basic aircraft, with simple, stubby rectangular wings and cruciform tail surfaces. Built mainly of wood held together with glue, the Natter could be assembled from poor-quality materials by semi-skilled labour in as little as 1000 man-hours. The craft was powered by the same Walter HWK 109-509 rocket engine as the Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet, which burned a combination of Hydrazine Hydrate and Hydrogen Peroxide fuel to produce 1140 kilograms of thrust. However, since the Natter was launched vertically, additional power was provided on takeoff by four Schmidding SG-34 strap-on solid rocket boosters producing 1,200 kilograms of thrust each. The Natter was launched from a 20-metre tall triangular launch tower which could be more easily concealed than the large runways used by the Komet, with the wings fitting into guide slots to prevent the aircraft from twisting as it rose. Once free of the tower, the Natter would be guided to its target altitude of around 6,000 metres by a simple autopilot or – as was later planned – via radio guidance from the ground. Thanks to its top speed of 1,000 kilometres an hour, the Natter would reach operational altitude in just 4.6 minutes, whereupon the controls would unlock, allowing the pilot to guide his aircraft towards the incoming allied bomber formation. At this point the main engine would have run out of propellant, turning the Natter into a high-speed glider. Once aligned with his target, the pilot would jettison the aircraft’s plastic nosecone to reveal the main armament: a battery of nineteen Heber R4M 55mm Orkan or twenty-four 73mm Henschel Hs 297 Föhn unguided rockets. These weapons – when they actually managed to hit their targets – were highly effective, with one Me-262 pilot describing their effects as:
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