Fieseler Fi 156C Storch (Morane-Saulnier MS.502 Criquet)
As the Luftwaffe rearmed for war, the Reich Air Ministry issued a requirement for a light aircraft capable of acting as a scouting aircraft, artillery spotter, and air ambulance. Fieseler offered its Fi 156 design, which incorporated both slats and flaps. This gave the aircraft superb short-field landing performance, and its robust landing gear allowed operations from any remotely firm surface. The Luftwaffe were impressed, and ordered it into production in 1936. It quickly gained the nickname "Storch" (Stork) for its long landing gear.
The Storch proved to be everything and more the Luftwaffe wanted. Easy to produce and fly, Storchs were assigned to most Luftwaffe squadrons as hack aircraft, and many in specialized squadrons to assist the German Army. It had superb visibility (including below; the floor was glazed), could land in any condition, and even had a modicum of self-defense with a rear firing MG 42 light machinegun. General Erwin Rommel, a qualified pilot, used his Storch to keep track of his fast-moving Afrika Korps; his British adversary, Bernard Montgomery, would do the same with his 8th Army in a captured Fi 156. It was most famously used in the Gran Sasso raid to free Benito Mussolini, but Storchs could be found anywhere.
During the war, production was shifted from the Fieseler factory, first to Mraz in Czechoslovakia, and then to Morane-Saulnier in France. So capable was the Storch that both nations kept it in production after the war; the French used metal construction and designated it the MS-500 Criquet. 2900 were built and a few dozen survive.
Like many "Storches" still around, this aircraft was built as a Criquet, but it has the distinction of being built to a German order, and completed around 1945 for the French Army. As a Criquet, it served with the French armed forces for awhile after World War II, and then was sold off as surplus. It was flown until 1978 by a French private owner, placed into storage, and acquired in 1985 by John MacGuire. It would later be placed on display for his War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Today, this aircraft is painted as a Luftwaffe army cooperation aircraft, serving with the Afrika Korps in North Africa during World War II, in desert camouflage. This shot shows the Storch's wide wingspan. It is surrounded by wartime German memorabilia...which may ensure I never post this on Facebook.
Fieseler Fi 156C Storch (Morane-Saulnier MS.502 Criquet)
As the Luftwaffe rearmed for war, the Reich Air Ministry issued a requirement for a light aircraft capable of acting as a scouting aircraft, artillery spotter, and air ambulance. Fieseler offered its Fi 156 design, which incorporated both slats and flaps. This gave the aircraft superb short-field landing performance, and its robust landing gear allowed operations from any remotely firm surface. The Luftwaffe were impressed, and ordered it into production in 1936. It quickly gained the nickname "Storch" (Stork) for its long landing gear.
The Storch proved to be everything and more the Luftwaffe wanted. Easy to produce and fly, Storchs were assigned to most Luftwaffe squadrons as hack aircraft, and many in specialized squadrons to assist the German Army. It had superb visibility (including below; the floor was glazed), could land in any condition, and even had a modicum of self-defense with a rear firing MG 42 light machinegun. General Erwin Rommel, a qualified pilot, used his Storch to keep track of his fast-moving Afrika Korps; his British adversary, Bernard Montgomery, would do the same with his 8th Army in a captured Fi 156. It was most famously used in the Gran Sasso raid to free Benito Mussolini, but Storchs could be found anywhere.
During the war, production was shifted from the Fieseler factory, first to Mraz in Czechoslovakia, and then to Morane-Saulnier in France. So capable was the Storch that both nations kept it in production after the war; the French used metal construction and designated it the MS-500 Criquet. 2900 were built and a few dozen survive.
Like many "Storches" still around, this aircraft was built as a Criquet, but it has the distinction of being built to a German order, and completed around 1945 for the French Army. As a Criquet, it served with the French armed forces for awhile after World War II, and then was sold off as surplus. It was flown until 1978 by a French private owner, placed into storage, and acquired in 1985 by John MacGuire. It would later be placed on display for his War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Today, this aircraft is painted as a Luftwaffe army cooperation aircraft, serving with the Afrika Korps in North Africa during World War II, in desert camouflage. This shot shows the Storch's wide wingspan. It is surrounded by wartime German memorabilia...which may ensure I never post this on Facebook.