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The Sombold 344 Schußjäger (Shoot Fighter) was a rocket-powered aircraft designed in 1943/44 by engineer Heinz Sombold in Naumburg/Saale, Germany.[1] The project came about when the Luftwaffe was seeking for a German Wunderwaffe ('wonder weapon') during the time of the allied bombing raids over Nazi Germany in the last years of World War II.

The So 344 was originally intended as a parasite escort fighter armed with two MG 81 machine guns and one MK 108 cannon, but its original design was changed in January 1944. The second version of the aircraft retained the two MG machine guns, but its front section was a detachable explosive nose with stabilizing fins filled with 400 kg of explosives. The pilot sat in the cockpit near the tail which was in the back section. The plane proper had a wingspan of 5.7 m and a length of 5.3 m. Including the ejectable nose its length would be 7 m.
The plane would have been released from a mother plane upon reaching combat altitude. Then it would ignite its single Walter HWK 109-509 rocket engine and dive towards the enemy bomber fleet at a 45 degree angle. Shortly before contact it would release its explosive nose, equipped with a proximity fuze, into the center of the combat box formation in a way that it would damage as many bombers as possible. Then it would try to get away with the remaining fuel in its rocket engine and finally land on its fixed skid.
Owing to the extreme risks for the pilot inherent in the operation of this aircraft, the Sombold So 344 is sometimes listed as a suicide weapon. However, it was not intended as such, even though the chances of survival would have been very limited for the pilot of such a dangerous artifact.
The Sombold So 344 is an experimental aircraft that was never built in series. The project was abandoned shortly before the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II and only one 1/5 scale model was built for aerodynamic tests.

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In January 1944, Heinz G. Sombold (Ingenieurbüro Bley, Naumburg/Saale) presented the project of a so-called ram shot fighter for crowd fighting, whose use at first glance is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Bachem Natter: Bachem also planned to use a rocket mini-fighter with a detachable driver's cab. Instead of the missile magazine of the BP 20, however, a bomb forming the fuselage nose and two machine guns and an MK were intended as armament.
In contrast to the Bachem Natter, which serves similar purposes, the device is not shot down from a ramp, but towed by a mother aircraft to a starting position suitable for the attack, whereby altitudes of 2000 to 4000 meters are considered. Once at this altitude, the towing connection to the mother aircraft is released, the rocket engine is switched on and the aircraft is brought to its target approach position in climb, which is considerably higher than the enemy's altitude.
Here the ramming shot fighter is first brought to a course suitable for attacking and then flies his attack - at an angle of about 45 degrees or steeper.
According to the designer's ideas, the fighter, supported by a suitable aiming device, should crash down on its target, the enemy bomber pack. At a corresponding distance from this, i.e. still outside the area of effect of the massive defense of the bombers, the 500 kg projectile is then ejected. This is done by triggering a propellant charge.
During its flight to and into the group, the projectile is stabilized by its four auxiliary wings and any other guidance devices. The detonation of the load of around 400 kg of explosives is carried out by means of a time fuse. The strong pressure wave generated in this way is an effective means of combating closed bomber formations. When the projectile is ejected, the ram hunter experiences a strong delay.
The device is automatically intercepted from the dive - without any influence by the pilot - and goes into a climb, from which it is removed by the pilot for further control of the aircraft. After the operation, the landing takes place on a runner in the style of a glider. For transport back to the port of operation, the airframe is dismantled into its two main assemblies (wings, fuselage) and placed on a small transport vehicle.
Heinz G. Sombold, an experienced designer, was well aware of the problems that had to arise from the drop of such a heavy projectile far in front of the center of gravity and the resulting strong tail bias of the device. He therefore proposed at the preliminary stage of the project that these questions should be clarified by means of free-flying models with a wingspan of about one metre (scale 1:5) before the final configuration of his ramming fighter would be determined.
When Sombold put his proposal on paper, it was already January t944 - there were only 16 months left until the end of the war. The author has not been able to find out whether the interesting project has been pushed further during this period.