WWII story - truth or fiction?

Hi

This is slightly OT but its still probably the best place to ask:
I vaguely recall a WWII story involving some very dangerous flight
experiments, as far as I recall, the Nazis were using disgraced German
pilots to fly some highly experimental aircraft (as the story goes –
the pilots were given the choice of flying these aircraft or stand
trial and be executed).
I have very few details about the particular tidbit I'm interested in
but maybe someone here can help fill in the (admittedly, large) gaps –
there was a story about one of those aircraft where, immediately after
takeoff, the pilot had to yank out the flight stick and throw it out
the window.
Is this just an imaginary tale or is there some truth to it?

Best regards,
Bater

A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools - Douglas Adams

On 11 Aug 2003 07:24:44 -0700, (Bater) wrote:


there was a story about one of those aircraft where, immediately after
takeoff, the pilot had to yank out the flight stick and throw it out
the window.


That must be the secret Nazi Space Shuttle invented by Werner von
Buran. ;-)



--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |"I'm moving to Mars next week,
E-mail - | so if you have any boxes...."
Visit my Titan I ICBM website at: | - Steven Wright
http://www.geocities.com/titan_1_missile |

In message , Bater
writes
Hi

This is slightly OT but its still probably the best place to ask:
I vaguely recall a WWII story involving some very dangerous flight
experiments, as far as I recall, the Nazis were using disgraced German
pilots to fly some highly experimental aircraft (as the story goes –
the pilots were given the choice of flying these aircraft or stand
trial and be executed).
I have very few details about the particular tidbit I'm interested in
but maybe someone here can help fill in the (admittedly, large) gaps –
there was a story about one of those aircraft where, immediately after
takeoff, the pilot had to yank out the flight stick and throw it out
the window.
Is this just an imaginary tale or is there some truth to it?

The story came up on this newsgroup a few months ago, and it apparently
refers to the BA-349 Natter. According to Pat Flannery if he didn't do
this it would "tear his nuts off" - probably academic, in the
circumstances.
--
"Roads in space for rockets to travel....four-dimensional roads, curving with
relativity"
Mail to jsilverlight AT merseia.fsnet.co.uk is welcome.
Or visit Jonathan's Space Site http://www.merseia.fsnet.co.uk

"Bater" wrote in message
om...
Hi

This is slightly OT but its still probably the best place to ask:
I vaguely recall a WWII story involving some very dangerous flight
experiments, as far as I recall, the Nazis were using disgraced German
pilots to fly some highly experimental aircraft (as the story goes -
the pilots were given the choice of flying these aircraft or stand
trial and be executed).
I have very few details about the particular tidbit I'm interested in
but maybe someone here can help fill in the (admittedly, large) gaps -
there was a story about one of those aircraft where, immediately after
takeoff, the pilot had to yank out the flight stick and throw it out
the window.
Is this just an imaginary tale or is there some truth to it?

Best regards,
Bater

There _was_ a program of tests of the V-1 "Buzz Bomb" (I think) with a
cockpit and pilot replacing the warhead. Don't know much about it.
--
Alan Erskine
alanerskine(at)optusnet.com.au
John Howard doesn't speak for this
Australian in the Amrosi death sentence -
Jail, not death.

I was reading in the bathroom when I ran across an item written by
"Alan Erskine" on Tue, 12 Aug 2003
02:21:26 +1000, which said:

There _was_ a program of tests of the V-1 "Buzz Bomb" (I think) with a
cockpit and pilot replacing the warhead. Don't know much about it.

Hanna Reitsch reportedly test-flew that variant.


---------------
Beady's Corollary to Occam's Razor: "The likeliest explanation of any phenomenon is almost always the most boring."

John Beaderstadt wrote:

I was reading in the bathroom when I ran across an item written by
"Alan Erskine" on Tue, 12 Aug 2003
02:21:26 +1000, which said:

There _was_ a program of tests of the V-1 "Buzz Bomb" (I think) with a
cockpit and pilot replacing the warhead. Don't know much about it.

Hanna Reitsch reportedly test-flew that variant.

according to her autobiography she assuredly did - and it was not
neccessary to force her to do it ..

servus

markus

--
markus baur SCA: markus von brixlegg
schluesselgasse 3/5 tel: +43 - (0)1 - 50 40 662
a-1040 wien icq: 9894381
austria/europe icbm: 48°10'32"N; 16°22'17"E

"der Markus?? .... das ist der mit dem Buch..."

a nice portait of myself can be found at:
http://btr0xw.rz.uni-bayreuth.de/cja...rcimboldo3.htm

Jonathan Silverlight wrote:
=

In message , Bater
writes
Hi

This is slightly OT but its still probably the best place to ask:
I vaguely recall a WWII story involving some very dangerous flight
experiments, as far as I recall, the Nazis were using disgraced German=

pilots to fly some highly experimental aircraft (as the story goes =E2=
=80=93
the pilots were given the choice of flying these aircraft or stand
trial and be executed).
I have very few details about the particular tidbit I'm interested in
but maybe someone here can help fill in the (admittedly, large) gaps =E2=
=80=93
there was a story about one of those aircraft where, immediately after=

takeoff, the pilot had to yank out the flight stick and throw it out
the window.
Is this just an imaginary tale or is there some truth to it?
=

The story came up on this newsgroup a few months ago, and it apparently=

refers to the BA-349 Natter. According to Pat Flannery if he didn't do
this it would "tear his nuts off" - probably academic, in the
circumstances.
--
Exactly. The Natter was a very short-winged rocket plane which launched
vertically. Once it was at cruise height, the tip of the nose would be
jettisoned, allowing the pilot to make a single, high-speed pass through
a bomber formation and fire off his unguided air-to-air rockets. After
the pass was over, and the flight speed had bled off, the pilot would
remove the flight stick and jettison the aircraft nose (basically
everything forward of his seat), and then bail out.

There was a single (and fatal) powered test flight.

FWIW, the Me163 was hardly more effective. It killed more test and
operational pilots, and ground crew, than it did Allied bomber crews.

In message , Markus Baur
writes
John Beaderstadt wrote:

I was reading in the bathroom when I ran across an item written by
"Alan Erskine" on Tue, 12 Aug 2003
02:21:26 +1000, which said:

There _was_ a program of tests of the V-1 "Buzz Bomb" (I think) with

cockpit and pilot replacing the warhead. Don't know much about it.
Hanna Reitsch reportedly test-flew that variant.

according to her autobiography she assuredly did - and it was not
neccessary to force her to do it ..

AFAIK she flew almost everything except the Natter, which is probably
how she lived to write it. The V-1 tests were featured in the film
"Operation Crossbow".
--
"Roads in space for rockets to travel....four-dimensional roads, curving with
relativity"
Mail to jsilverlight AT merseia.fsnet.co.uk is welcome.
Or visit Jonathan's Space Site http://www.merseia.fsnet.co.uk

"Ami A. Silberman"

Once [the Natter] was at cruise height, the tip of the nose would be
jjettisoned, allowing the pilot to make a single, high-speed pass through
a bomber formation and fire off his unguided air-to-air rockets

There was a German manned jet powered interceptor. Would have said it was the
same one but this one took off horizontally. Anyway it had a row of mortar
tubes on each wing root that pointed vertically. A photo sensor pointed upward
as well. The craft would fly under a formation of Allied bombers. When the
photo cell detected the underside of the bomber, it fired the mortars upward.
It was said to actually work. The automatic firing was necessary due to the
high speed of the rocket plane relative to its overhead target.

http://www.germanvtol.com/bachemfolder/bachem.html

The pilot, Lothar Siebert, was not threatened with his life.
Due to some minor thing, he was degraded and had the prospect
of being promoted again after doing the flight.
The flight happened on February 28th 1945 and is the first manned
vertical rocket launch in history.
There is a pretty well German documentary
"Der vergessene Raketenflug" (The Forgotten Rocket Flight)
about this. Avery good book about it is
"Der erste bemannte Raketenstart der Welt"
(The world's first manned rocket launch).
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/...#more-pictures