Model of the Bachem Natter with the Schmidding SG 34 rocket motors in red | |
Country of origin | Germany |
---|---|
First flight | 1945 |
Manufacturer | Schmidding Werke |
Application | RATO |
Status | Retired |
Solid Fuel | |
Performance | |
Thrust | 1,200 kgf (2,600 lbf; 12 kN) |
Burn time | 10 seconds |
Dimensions | |
Length | 118 cm (46 in) |
Diameter | 25.5 cm (10.0 in) |
Used in | |
Bachem Ba 349 Natter |
The Schmidding SG 34(109-533) was a German World War II-era solid-fuelled rocket motor. Four SG 34s were used on the Bachem Ba 349 Natter to provide extra thrust for launching. [1] [2]
The Bachem Ba 349 Natter was originally designed with Schmidding SR 34 rocket boosters however these were upgraded to the more powerful 1,200kgf thrust SG 34s in December of 1944. The SG 34 was manufactured by Schmidding Werke at the company's factory in Děčín located in the modern day Czech Republic. [1]
Four SG 34 solid fuel rocket boosters were fitted to the prototype Bachem Natter. [1] [2] The booster rockets were designed to augment the thrust from the Natter's single Walter HWK 509 engine and were most likely released by explosive shearing bolts shortly after takeoff. [1]
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to ancient Chinese ingenuity, and in the 13th century, the Mongols played a pivotal role in facilitating their westward adoption.
JATO is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term JATO is used interchangeably with the term RATO, for rocket-assisted take-off.
The Bachem Ba 349 Natter was a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. After a vertical take-off, which eliminated the need for airfields, most of the flight to the Allied bombers was to be controlled by an autopilot. The primary role of the relatively untrained pilot was to aim the aircraft at its target bomber and fire its armament of rockets. The pilot and the fuselage containing the rocket engine would then land using separate parachutes, while the nose section was disposable.
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Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft (HWK), Helmuth Walter Werke (HWM), or commonly known as the Walter-Werke, was a German company founded by Professor Hellmuth Walter to pursue his interest in engines using hydrogen peroxide as a propellant.
Lothar Sieber was a German test pilot who was killed in the first vertical take-off manned rocket flight, in a Bachem Ba 349 "Natter".
Erich Bachem was a German engineer.
Wilhelm Schmidding from Bodenbach, Germany, was a World War II constructor of rocket engines used for RATO. Factories were in Schmiedeberg, and from summer 1943, in Buschvorwerk.
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The von Braun Interceptor was a VTOL rocket-powered interceptor designed by Wernher von Braun. This aircraft would have used the technology Von Braun had developed for the V-2 rocket during World War II. Von Braun put forward the proposal to Reichsluftfahrtministerium, on July 6, 1939, but project was ultimately not built.