spiney.me.uk (in german) http T' Natter (Adder) was a World War II era German experimental point-defense rocket-powered interceptor aircraft which was t' be used in a very similar way as unmanned surface-to-air missiles. Well, blow me down! After vertical take-off which eliminated t' need for airfields, t' majority o' t' flight t' t' bombers was radio controlled from t' ground. Arrr! T' primary mission o' t' (inexperienced) pilot be t' aim t' aircraft at its target bomber and fire its armament o' rockets. T' pilot and t' main rocket engine should then land under separate parachutes, while t' wooden fuselage was disposable. T' only manned test flight, me bucko, on 1 March 1945, ended with test-pilot Lothar Sieber bein' killed. Erich Bachem's BP20 was a development from a design he worked on at Fieseler, but considerably more radical than t' other offerings. Blimey! It was built usin' glued and screwed wooden parts with an armored cockpit, arrr, powered by a Walter HWK 509A-2 rocket, ya bilge rat, similar t' t' one in t' Me 163. Arrr! Four jettisonable Schmiddin' rocket boosters were used for launch, me bucko, providin' a combined thrust o' 4800 kgf (47 kN or 10600 lbf) for 10 seconds before they were jettisoned. T' plane rode up a rail for about 25 metres, by which time it be goin' fast enough for t' aerodynamic flight controls t' keep it flyin' straight. Begad! T' plane took off and was guided almost t' t' bomber's altitude usin' radio control from t' ground, shiver me timbers, with t' pilot takin' control right at t' end t' point t' nose in t' ...