The Fieseler Fi 156 ''Storch'' (stork ) was a small German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II. Production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market. It remains famous to this day for its excellent STOL performance.

Conception and production

Design and development

In 1935, the RLM (''Reichsluftfahrtministerium '', Reich Aviation Ministry) put out a tender for a new Luftwaffe aircraft suitable for liaison, army co-operation (today called Forward Air Control ), and medical evacuation, to several companies. Conceived by chief designer Reinhold Mewes and technical director Erich Bachem, Fieseler's entry was by far the most advanced in terms of STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) performance. A fixed slat ran along the entire leading edge of the long wings, while the entire trailing edge, including the ailerons, was a hinged and slotted flap.

In a design feature rare for land-based aircraft, the wings on the ''Storch'' could be folded back along the fuselage in a manner not unlike that of the US Navy's F4F Wildcat fighter, allowing it to be carried on a trailer or even towed slowly behind a vehicle. The primary hinge for folding the wing rearwards was located in the wing root, where the rear wing spar met the cabin area. The long legs of the main landing gear contained oil-and-spring shock absorbers that compressed about 450 mm (18 inches) on landing, allowing the plane to set down almost anywhere. In flight they hung down, giving the aircraft the appearance of a very long-legged, big-winged bird, hence its nickname, ''Storch''. With its very low landing speed the ''Storch'' often appeared to land vertically, or even backwards in strong headwinds.

French production

Immediately after the liberation of France in 1944, the production of ''Storch'' at the Morane-Saulnier factory was continued at the request of the Armée de l'Air and designated MS 500 for the batch of aircraft produced with the remaining stock of Argus engines. Further modification and use of different engines (inline and radial) are known under different types. The use of the plane in Indochina highlighted the weakness of the wood in the construction of the airframe; It was then decided to build the wings in metal. Among the modifications, the defensive weapon aiming through the back window was dropped, although some aircraft have then been modified on the field to take a Machine Gun MAC 34T firing through one of the side windows. 141 aircraft were built before the end of WWII and a total of 925 aircraft were built before the end of the production of all type of ''Criquet'' by Morane-Saulnier in 1965.

Romanian production

Licence production was also started in Romania in 1943 at the ICAR factory in Bucharest. Only 10 were built by the time Romania switched sides, with a further 70 aircraft being built by the Romanians before production ended in 1946.

Further development

Because of its superb STOL characteristics (which would be of obvious great benefit to bush pilots, for example) there have been many attempts to recreate or outright copy the Storch in modern form, namely in the form of various homebuilt aircraft. One of the most successful recent examples of this is the Slepcev Storch designed by Nestor Slepcev. It is a 3/4 scale reproduction of the original with some modification for simplicity. Through the use of modern materials the aircraft features better STOL performance than the original with a take-off run of 30 m and landing-roll of 50m with no headwind.

Operational history

During WWII

The Storch could be found on every front throughout the European and North African theaters of operation in World War II. It will probably always be most famous for its role in ''Operation Eiche'', the rescue of deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a boulder-strewn mountain top near the Gran Sasso, surrounded by Italian troops. German commando Otto Skorzeny dropped with 90 paratroopers onto the peak and quickly captured it, but the problem remained of how to get back off. A Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 helicopter was sent, but it broke down en route. Instead, pilot Walter Gerlach flew in a Storch, landed in 30 m (100 ft), took aboard Mussolini and Skorzeny, and took off again in under 80 m (250 ft), even though the plane was overloaded.

On 26 April 1945 a Storch was one of the last planes to land on the improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten near the Brandenburg Gate during the Battle of Berlin and the death throes of the Third Reich. It was flown by the test pilot Hanna Reitsch, who flew her lover Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin to answer a summons from Hitler. Once in Berlin von Greim was informed that he was to take over command of the Luftwaffe from Hermann Göring.

A Storch was the victim of the last dog fight on the Western Front and another was downed by a direct Allied counterpart of the Storch - an L-4 Grasshopper — from the L-4's crew directing their pistol fire at it. The pilot and co-pilot of the L-4, Lts. Duane Francis and Bill Martin, opened fire on the Storch with their .45 caliber pistols, forcing the German air crew to land and surrender.

During the war a number of ''Störche'' were captured by the Allies; the British having captured 145 from which 64 were given to the French as War compensation from Germany, one becoming the personal aircraft of Field Marshal Montgomery.

Post WWII

The ALA and the ALAT use the ''Criquet'' from to throughout the Indochina War and the Algerian War.

Variants

* Fi 156 V1 - Prototype equipped with an adjustable metal propeller, registration D-IKVN (produced in 1935-1936)

* Fi 156 V2 - Prototype equipped with a Wooden propeller. First Prototype to fly (May 10, 1936). registration D-IDVS (produced in 1935-1936)

* Fi 156 V3 - Prototype identical to the V2. Test machine for various radio equipment, registration D-IGLI (produced in 1936)

* Fi 156 V4 - Prototype identical to the V3. Skis for landing gear and disposable auxiliary tank. (produced in 1936-1937)

* Fi 156 V5 - Production prototype for A-series. (produced in 1937)

* Fi 156 A-0 - Pre-production aircraft, identical to the V3. Ten aircraft were produced. (produced in 1937-1938)

* Fi 156 A-1 - first production models for service, ordered into production by the Luftwaffe with an order for 16 aircraft, the first production aircraft entered service in mid-1937. Some source cite only 6 were effectively produced. (produced in 1938)

* Fi 156 B - Allowed for the automatic retraction of the leading edge slats and had a number of minor aerodynamic cleanups, boosting the speed to 208 km/h (130 mph). The ''Luftwaffe'' didn't consider such a small difference to be important and the Fi-156 B was not produced.

* Fi 156 C-0 - Pre-production. Essentially a "flexible" version of the A model. (produced in 1939)

* Fi 156 C-1 - three-seater liaison version. (produced in 1939-1940)

* Fi 156 C-2 - two-seat observation type (which had a rear-mounted MG 15 machine gun for defense), produced in 1940.

* Fi 156 C-3 - Replaced the C-1 and C-2 with a "universal cockpit" suited for any role. (produced in 1940-1941)

* Fi 156 C-3/Trop - Version adapted for tropical/desert conditions. Filtered intakes. (produced in 1940-1942)

* Fi 156 C-5 - Addition of a belly hardpoint for a camera pod or jettisionable auxiliary tanks. Some were fitted with skis, rather than wheels, for operation on snow. (produced in 1941-1945)

* Fi 156 C-5/Trop - Version adapted for tropical/desert conditions. Filtered intakes. (produced in 1941-1945)

* Fi 156 D-0 - Pre-production of the air ambulance version of the C model with a larger cockpit and larger doors. Powered by an Argus AsP engine. (produced in 1941)

* Fi 156 D-1 - Production version of the D-0. (produced in 1942-1945)

* Fi 156 E-0 - Liaison version identical to the C-1 Ten pre-production aircraft were fitted with tracked landing gear. (produced in 1941-1942)

* Fi 156 F or P - Counter insurgency version. Identical to the C-3 with machine guns in side windows and bomb-racks/smoke laying. (produced in 1942)

* Fi 156 U - Anti-submarine version. Identical to the C-3 with depth charge. (produced in 1940)

* Fi 156 K-1 - Export version of the C-1 (Bought by Sweden).

* Fi 256 - A five seat civil version; two were built by Morane-Saulnier.

* MS-500 - Liaison version. French produced with 240 hp French built Argus engine.

* MS-501 - with a 233 hp Renault 6Q

* MS-502 - Liaison version. Identical to the MS-500, with the Argus engine replaced by a 230 hp Salmson 9ab radial engine.

* MS-504 - with a 304 hp Jacobs R-755 -A2 radial engine.

* MS-505 - Observation version of the MS-500 with the Argus engine replaced by a 304 hp Jacobs R-755 -A2 radial engine.

* MS-506 - with a 235 hp Lycoming engine.

* Mráz K-65 Čáp - production in Czechoslovakia after WWII.

* Antonov OKA-38 ''Aist'' - An unlicensed copy of the Fi 156, powered by a copy of a Renault MV-6 engine, was starting production as the factory was overrun by German forces in

The original source for this article was the Wikipedia Storch article.