Lothar Sieber
| Lothar Sieber | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 April 1922 Dresden |
| Died | 1 March 1945 (aged 22) near Stetten am kalten Markt |
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
 Luftwaffe
|
| Rank | Oberleutnant (posthumous) |
Lothar Sieber (7 April 1922 in Dresden, Germany – 1 March 1945 near Stetten am kalten Markt, Germany) was a German test pilot who was killed in the first vertical take-off manned rocket flight, in a Bachem Ba 349 "Natter".
Before he became a test pilot for Bachem, he piloted an Arado Ar 232 in highly risky sorties. Shortly before his flight, he had become engaged to Gertrud Naudit, a Luftwaffenhelfer. Sieber had held the rank of Second Lieutenant but was demoted to Private after an alcohol-related AWOL. Posthumuously he was promoted to Oberleutnant.
On 1 March, at the Truppenübungsplatz Heuberg, Sieber entered the Natter Ba 349A M23 for the first manned vertical take-off of a rocket. The experienced test pilot was told to execute a half roll if the Natter should veer off course. The start worked as planned, Sieber executed the roll maneuvers as soon as the Natter changed its course. After the release of the solid fuel rocket boosters it could be seen that the canopy came off and fell to the ground while the Natter disappeared into the clouds.
Eyewitnesses reported that the main engine kept firing. Soon, the Natter reappeared vertically from the clouds and hit the ground at high speed. All eyes searched for Sieber appearing with his parachute from the clouds, but to no avail.
At the impact site, about 7 km away, a 5 m deep crater was found, and except half of a left arm and half of a left leg, only small parts were found, and later only a 14 cm long part of a skull.
In 1998-1999, excavations found the remains of one of the Starthilfsraketen RATO rockets at the impact site, proving that it did not release from the fuselage of the Natter.
Reconstruction of the flight, which lasted 55 seconds and travelled a horizontal distance of 7 km, calculated an average speed of about 800 km/h, thus about 14 km were traveled in total. It is assumed that during the vertical drop, with the engine firing, Sieber inadvertently also became the first human to break the sound barrier.
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