Military Model Scene

Title: First Manned Rocket Launch
Author: Jean Paul Pallud
Publisher: After the Battle
ISBN: 978-1-03610-128-2

Natter, the Luftwaffe's vertical take-off interceptor, Then and Now, from After the Battle, a series now part of Pen & Sword. A 96-page hard-cover book.
This new book is based on an article by the author which was in After the Battle magazine back in 2011, but has been updated, and with the extra space afforded to a book, there are over 100 new photos included, all of which have their detailed captions. The Natter was one of the late war designs born of desperation, in the German defence against the large American bomber formations that were over Germany on an almost daily basis. The book tells the story of the development and building of this Bachem design, including photos of the production hall both during the war, and again when it was still in use in 2010, just before it was to be demolished. Early prototypes were towed into the air by an He 111, using a tricycle trolley and one of the prototypes even had an undercarriage fitted. There is a diagram showing the intended mission profile, and how after firing the battery of 24 rockets in the nose cone, then when the fuel ran out, the pilot would have bailed out as the nose of the aircraft was detached and the rear element parachuted back to earth. Powered by a Walter rocket, fuelled with T-Stoff and C-Stoff, plus 4 Schmidding booster rockets fitted to the rear. Unmanned test flights worked as planned until prototype 23 was set up to be flown by test pilot Lothar Sieber, when he became the first man to experience a vertical launch in a rocket powered plane. Sadly the aircraft exploded soon after the launch. Amazingly there are plenty of archive photos recording this launch and more. Production continued and completed airframes were moved out when the Allied advance approached. Details of the evacuation are given, along with the capture of 4 examples. The final stage of the book looks at those preserved examples and replicas, which can be found on display today.
The story is really interesting read, and the collection of 'then and now' photos is fantastic. For the WW2 aviation historian, and the modeller, there is so much detail in here for you. Author Jen Paul Pallud has some a number of the classic books in the After the Battle series, and while smaller, this is another first class piece of work which fans will appreciate I have no doubt.
Thanks to Pen & Sword for the review copy.

Robin