Right, sad spotter's hat on...
Possibly the most bizarre ideas for land based aircraft operation was the German Bachem 349 'Natter' (Viper) project of 1944-45.
This tiny rocket powered (the same Walther rocket as used in the Me 163) point defence interceptor was designed to be launched vertically via 4 solid rocket boosters as the bomber stream passed overhead. The boosters were then jettisoned and the walther rocket took over. The thing would then climb rapidly above the bomber formation, and commence a gentle dive at approx 500 kts before the pilot jettisoned the nose cone and launched 24 unguided rockets. After having blown through the formation, the pilot would then decouple the control column and his harness before releasing the entire nose section forward of his seat!!! With the pilot now exposed to the elements, he would then deploy a brake parachute, thereby throwing the pilot clear and enabling the use of his standard personal parachute!!!!!!!
It was estimated that a typical Natter sortie would last around 2 mins!!! I guess therefore that there would have been plenty of '0' flt duration logbook entires, and that the 'Natter 1000 hrs patch' is now much sought after in aviation badge collector circles! Presumably, said pilot would also have flown with a travel warrant to enable a swift return to his airbase ready for his next op!!!!
The boxheads actually completed 11 unmanned and at least one manned (and fatal!) test flight of this thing. There are plenty of pics around of the thing, but unfortunately, I can never get the pic attachments to work on PPRUNE!! Anyone help?
Spotter's hat off...
Regards and a Happy/safe New Year to everyone!
M2
PS...Anyone seen the film of the Spam SF C-130 trials involving forward and rearward firing rockets to enable almost zero length takeoffs and landings? They trialled them allegedly with a view to flying a C-130 into and out of a football stadium in Tehran to rescue the hostages in 1980. The landing trial ended up with a C-130 in 2 bits!!!!