Curiosities 4 - Four perfect aircraft to kill their crews

João Henrique Barboza Jorgetto • Oct 17, 2022

Some ideas from the past are so absurd that it's hard to believe that anyone thought they would work. In the world of airplanes, this is no different.

Check out some examples of planes that were perfect killing machines for their crews! These are examples of aircraft that operated during the two World Wars only.

1- Royal Aircraft Factory BE.9 - "Pulpit"

The BE.9 was a World War 1 plane at the beginning of the airplane era, but not all solutions were ingenious, unfortunately. The BE.9 needed to have a weapon that could shoot forward, which at that time was still not common. So an idea was born: place a piece of wood with a gun in front of the airplane's propellers. Hence the name "Pulpit", as this new part of the plane looked like a church pulpit and could easily take its crew to an encounter with God.

In detail: location of the plane's gunner and proximity to the propellers. The Pulpit of the "Pulpit" was even used for religious ceremonies in the field and for reading the day's instructions.

This absurd proximity to the engine's propellers alone was already a tremendous danger to the crew, considering that the gunner would have to move to handle the machine gun, always staying within a few centimeters of being hit by the propeller's movements and saying goodbye to his earthly existence. Another absurd danger was the fact that that in that position, any landing that was not perfect would be fatal, as it would throw the entire weight of the engine (and, again, the propellers) into this small wooden space, taking the crewman to the skies forever.

 2 - Bachem Natter BA349

In 1944, in World War II, Nazi Germany could already see its end approaching with each new Allied bombing. The constant lack of resources was a concern for the few factories that could still develop something that might improve the country's situation in the war. However, projects needed to be fast, cheap and functional. That revenue would spawn one of the strangest planes in history: The Natter 349.

The Natter came as a laudable project in a Germany almost unable to carry out tests, devoid of airports and intact runways. Born with the concept of being an interceptor equipped with 24 attack rockets, the Natter had as its main characteristic the ability to take off vertically using solid fuel rockets. Dangerous? Yes, very! Another feature of the Natter was that it was expendable and used only for one attack. The only reusable part was its engine.

Once triggered, the Natter took off and only after the fuel rockets had burned could the pilot (or the turret, remotely) correct its course so that it could dive against the allied bombers and fire all its attack rockets at once. In this process, the chance of something going wrong was already huge, from explosions in the fuel tanks to explosions in the plane due to weapons’ malfunction.

Once the attack had been made, the pilot needed to trigger an explosive device that separated the front part of the plane from the engine and then eject from the aircraft. The engine also had a parachute so it could be retrieved and used again. The first test with a crew member resulted in the pilot's death. Still, even so, faced with the difficulties of Germany in the war, the project went ahead and a Natter battery was installed near Stuttgart without being used before the war's end. After the battles, the Nazis destroyed the remnants to prevent them from falling into Allied hands.

3 - Albatros D.III

An important World War I aircraft, the Albatros, was one of the aircraft piloted by the famous German ace Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron. The plane was a success at the time for its agility and high maneuverability: however, the first versions terrified its pilots with a risk known to all. The D.III's radiator was above the pilot's head, creating a high chance that, in the case of a hit to the engine, the radiator would release liquids at high temperatures, going directly into the face of the pilot, literally melting his face.

4 - Mitsubishi G4M "Betty"

This Japanese bomber, dubbed "Betty" by the Allies, was a formidable-range aircraft capable of flying an unbelievable 3,000 miles at the time! For something like this to be accomplished, its designers stripped everything they could off the plane so it would be light enough to achieve that goal. Their fuel tanks were huge and, to reduce weight, devoid of self-sealing, meaning if they were shot, they were gone. All would be fine since the armor would protect the planes, right? And then… they also removed the armor, a lot of weight. The Betty was a flammable aerial bomb: any shot would result in fire and a consequent fall from the sky. Flying the Betty was a task for the brave.

Betty in a familiar scene over the Pacific skies: on fire.