In the summer 1935,
Chairman Gerhard Fieseler, Chief Designer Reinhold Mewes (who
specialised in STOL aircraft) and Technical Director Erich Bachem
(later the creator of the Ba 349 Natter VTO fighter) designed the
ultimate in practical STOL aircraft, the Fieseler Fi 156. It was no
mere exercise, and was seen as fulfilling numerous roles both in civil
life and for the recendy disclosed Luftwaffe. It was a three-seat,
high-winged machine, powered by the excellent 240 hp (179 kW) Argus
engine and with the wing liberally endowed with slats and flaps. A
particular feature was the stalky landing gear arrangement, well suited
to cushioning arrivals at unprecedented steep angles.
Best-known of all the
Fieseler designs because of its extensive use during World War II, the
Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (stork) was a remarkable STOL (short take-off
and landing) aircraft that was first flown nearly 50 years ago on 24
May 1936. A braced high-wing monoplane of mixed construction, with a
conventional braced tail unit and fixed tailskid landing gear with
long-stroke main units, the Fi 156 was powered by an 240 hp (179 kW)
Argus As 10C 8-cylinder inverted-Vee air-cooled piston engine, and its
extensively glazed cabin provided an excellent view for its three-man
crew. As with the Fi 97, the key to the success of this aircraft was
its wing incorporating the company's high-lift devices, comprising in
the initial production series a fixed slot extending over the entire
span of the wing leading edge, with slotted ailerons and slotted
camber-changing flaps occupying the entire trailing edge. Flight
testing of the first three prototypes (Fi 156 V1, V2 and V3) showed
that the capability of this aircraft more than exceeded its STOL
expectations, for with little more than a light breeze blowing it
needed a take-off run of only about 200 ft (60 m) and could land in
about one-third of that distance.
Built to complete
against fixed-wing submissions from Messerschmitt (Bf 163) and Siebel (Si
201) and an auto gyro from Focke-Wulf (Fw 186) based on Cierva
technology, the three prototypes were followed by the ski-equipped Fi
156 V4 for winter trials, a pre-production Fi 156 V5 and, in early
1937, by 10 Fi 156A-0 aircraft for service evaluation. One of these was
demonstrated publicly for the first time at an international flying
meeting at the end of July 1937 in Zürich, by which time the
general-purpose Fi 156A-1 was in production. The Storch repeatedly
demonstrated full-load take-offs after a ground run of never more than
148 ft (45 m), and a fully controllable speed range of 32-108 mph
(51-174 km/h). Service tests confirmed that Germany's armed forces had
acquired a 'go-anywhere' aircraft, and for the remainder of World War
II the Storch was found virtually everywhere German forces operated,
production of all variants totalling 2,549 aircraft.
It must be admitted
that the Storch was large for its job, and the US Army Piper L-4
Grasshopper, its mass-produced equivalent, did most of the same tasks
on 65 hp (48 kW) instead of 240 hp (179 kW). On the other hand, it
could be argued that the aircraft bought by the RAF for the same duties
was the Westland Lysander which, despite the best efforts of Westland
could not come anywhere near the German aircraft's STOL qualities even
with nearly 1,000 hp (746 kW). The truest test is perhaps an aircraft's
influence on history. Immediately, the Storch had emulators in at least
10 countries, US examples including the Ryan YO-51 Dragonfly, Vultee
L-1 Vigilant and Bellanca O-50, and even a version adopted by the
Soviet Union.
It added up to a
vehicle that could go almost anywhere and do a remarkable number of
things. Tests against fighters appeared to confirm that, at around 34
mph (55 km/h), it was a very difficult target for fighters. There was
almost trouble when Udet's camera-gun film showed not one picture of
the elusive Storch. Another Fi 156A-0 was tested with three SC-50 (50
kg/110 lbs) bombs, with aim marks painted on the Plexiglas windows,
while another did successful trials against a U-boat with inert 298 lbs
(135 kg) depth charges. Less unexpected were supply-dropping tests and
trials with smoke apparatus.
In view of large
numbers produced it is not surprising that there were several variants,
the first being the projected but not built Fi 156B with movable
leading-edge slots. The major production version was the C-series, the
initial pre-production Fi 156C-0 being a development of the Fi 156A-1
and introducing raised rear-cabin glazing to allow for installation of
a rear-firing 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 15 machine-gun. The designation Fi
156C-1 applied to a variant intended to be deployed in liaison and
staff transport roles, and the Fi 156C-2 was basically a two-crew
reconnaissance version carrying a single camera. Some late examples of
the Fi 156C-2 were, however, euipped to carry one stretcher for
casualty evacuation. The Fi 156C-3 was the first to be equipped for
multi-purpose use, the majority of the type being powered by the
improved Argus As l0P engines, this engine being standard in the
generally similar Fi 156C-5 which had provision to carry an
underfuselage camera or drop tank. Tropicalised versions of the Fi
156C-3 and Fi 156C-5, incorporating engine dust/sand filters, were
built under the respective designations Fi 156C-3/Trop and Fi
156C-5/Trop.
The final production
variant was an improved casualty evacuation aircraft with an enlarged
loading/unloading hatch for a single stretcher. Pre-production Fi
156D-0 aircraft were powered by the Argus As 10C engine, but production
Fi 156D-1s had the Argus As l0P engine as standard. Ten unusual
pre-production aircraft were built under the designation Fi 156E-0,
intended for operation from rough terrain with the standard landing
gear was replaced by main units that each incorporated two wheels in
tandem, the wheels of each unit, being linked by pneumatic rubber
track. Final wartime variant was the Fi 256, a larger capacity
five-seat civil version, of which only two examples were built at the
Morane-Saulnier factory in Puteaux, France, during 1943-44.
The Fi 156 Storch took
part in many exciting actions. Certainly the most remarkable covert
mission of the entire war (which received little publicity because it
was by the losing side) took place on 12 September 1943. Italy had
reached an armistice with the Allies, and the former Fascist dictator,
Mussolini, had been taken prisoner. Most of the country was at once
taken over by the German army, however, and Hitler ordered SS
Haupsturm-führer Otto Skorzeny to find Mussolini and rescue him.
Eventually Skorzeny located Mussolini being held in the hotel on top of
the pinnacle of the Gran Sasso in the Abruzzi mountains, reached only
by cable-car. He organised a rescue using a Focke-Achgelis Fa 223
Drache helicopter, but at the last moment this was unserviceable due to
a crash. Undeterred, Skorzeny went in a Storch, landed on the tiny
terrace at the back of the hotel, got the former dictator and, severely
overloaded, took off over the sheer edge.
Almost equal in
excitement was one of the very last missions ever flown by a Storch of
the Luftwaffe. On 23 April 1945 Hider received a communication from
Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, previously his closest aide, which
made him furious. He immediately dismissed Goering as C-in-C of the
Luftwaffe (Goeringhaving got out of Berlin to safer climes), and
appointed in his stead Generaloberst Ritter von Greim. He sent a
message from his bunker to Berlin-Gatow calling for von Greim, and
Flugkapitän Hanna Reitsch brought him to the Führerbunker in a Storch,
flying by night over the entire encircling Soviet armies and landing
amid piles of rubble and under enemy fire. Hitler formally invested von
Greim, who was then flown out again by the brilliant woman test pilot.
She was the last person to get out of beleaguered Berlin, and the
return trip should on any rational basis have been impossible.
During the war at least
47 Storchs, nearly all of them Fi 156C-3/Trop or Fi 156C-5/Trop
versions, were taken on charge by front-line RAF squadrons in the
Mediterranean theatre. In the final few months of the war, more
examples came into the hands of Allied units in northern Europe. By May
1945 further un-destroyed examples had been captured in Germany, and a
surprisingly high proportion escaped immediate destruction. The British
MAP (Ministry of Aircraft Production) carried out a formal evaluation
of VX154, which numerically confirmed its outstanding qualities. Among
more than 60 Storchs taken formally on RAF charge was VM472, the
personal aircraft of Field Marshal Montgomery, in preference to an
Allied type. Another, brought to the UK by an air marshal, was
reluctantly wrested from him and, in 1946, in immaculate Ministry
livery with serial VP546 (and British wheels), it was flown by
Lieutenant Commander E. M. 'Winkle' Brown as a valued vehicle at Aero
Flight, RAE Farnborough. Several others flew with the RAE's transport
flight.
Many hundreds of
Storchs were built after the war in both Puteaux, France and liberated
Czechoslovakia. The Puteaux factory had in fact built two prototypes of
the Fi 256, which Fieseler had designed in 1941 as a civil successor.
It looked like a Storch with a wider fuselage, but in fact hardly any
parts were common. The wings had automatic slats, the fuselage was more
streamlined, and the cabin seated two pairs of passengers behind the
pilot instead of two single seats. The engine was an Argus As l0P of
270 hp (201 kW). There was nothing wrong with the Fi 256, but the
Luftwaffe declined to order it, and there was no obvious civil market.
Chocen-built aircraft
after the war were known as the Mraz K.65 Cap "Storck". Production was
terminated soon after the Communist take-over in 1948. The Puteaux
designations were Morane-Saulnier M.S.500, M.S.501, M.S.502, M.S.504,
M.S.505 and M.S.506. The M.S.500 resembled the standard Fieseler Fi
156C series. The M.S.501 looked like the Soviet Antonov OKA-38 in
having a Renault 6Q-10/11 inverted inline engine, and the most
important version, made in substantial numbers, was the M.S.502 with a
230 hp (172 kW) Salmson 9Abc unhooded radial engine. The radial seemed
to suit the 'Cricket' admirably, and it had a long career with the
French Armeé de l'Air and the Aéronavale. So, too, did the
Argus-engined aircraft, and ex-French machines even served with the
French forces in Vietnam throughout the 1950s. Another important user
was the Swedish air force, whose S.14 versions from Germany were
supplemented by post-war French examples. Several Storchs, from various
sources, got on the British civil register, and many examples, most of
them built post-war, are still flying in several countries.
Storch Configuration
There was little
unconventional about the design or construction. The fuselage, which
was just half as long again as that of an L-4, was of welded steel tube
with fabric covering. The strongly made cabin had a glazed area all
around, which was wider than the fuselage to give a clear view straight
downwards. To the top of the cabin were attached the fabric-covered
wooden wings, braced to the bottom fuselage longerons by steel-tube V
-struts. The wings could be folded backwards. Along the entire straight
leading edge were fixed aluminium slats, while the entire trailing edge
was formed by wooden slotted flaps, the outer sections serving as
drooping ailerons with inboard balance tabs to reduce stick forces in
roll. The flaps were not of Fieseler's Rollflugel pattern
(resembling the Fowler), but simply large slotted flaps driven by rods
in the wingroot, jackscrews in the leading-edge root and, via sprockets
and chains, a handwheel on the left of the cockpit. Working the flaps
was little effort, and they could go to 70°. Take-off was usually with
20° or none, but 40° could be used for really 'impossible' situations.
The fin was metal and fabric, but the rest of the tail was of wooden
construction, with fabric covering, the tailplane having variable
incidence for trim.
The inverted V-8 engine
was nearly installed, and its air cooling was to be a boon on the
Eastern Front during World War II. It invariably started as soon as the
electric starter was selected, and the access step projecting from the
landing gear was seldom needed except to replenish oil. The standard
propeller was a 102 in (2.6 m) Schwartz, with metal anti-erosion
inserts in the outer leading edges. A 16.28 Imperial gallon (74 litre)
fuel tank was fitted in each wing, and a 45 Imperial gallon (204.54
litre) fuel tank could be installed in place of the two passenger seats
in tandem behind the pilot. The main legs and tailskid were all tall
and had a long stroke, the main units having spiral springs with an oil
dashpot to prevent bounce. Hydraulic brakes were hardly needed, and
tire pressure was low enough for almost any surface except fresh deep
snow, although pilots soon learned to watch for ruts and large stones
because the tires were rather small. In a strong wind flaps had to be
kept in on the ground or the Storch could be blown over.
Specifications
(Fieseler Fi 156C-2 Storch "Stork")
Type: Three Seat
STOL Utility, Communications, Reconnaissance, Amubulance, Army
Co-Operation and Personal Transport
Accommodation/Crew:
Pilot, Observer/Gunner and one Passenger with a small baggage
compartment in the rear behind the cockpit area. As an Ambulance it
could be modified to carry a single stretcher. The entire sides and
roof of the cabin were glazed. The side windows are built out with
lower panels sloping in acutely to give good downward visibility. The
door was located on the starboard side.
Design: Chairman
Gerhard Fieseler, Chief Designer Reinhold Mewes and Technical Director
Erich Bachem of the Gerhard Fieseler Werke GmbH.
Manufacturer:
Gerhard Fieseler Werke GmbH at Bettenhausen and Waldau both in the
Kassel area (formerly the factories of Segel Flugzeugbau bought by
Fieseler Flugzeugbau and reorganinsed into the Gerhard Fieseler Werke
GmbH). Starting in April 1942 production was undertaken by the German
controlled Morane-Saulnier company at its Puteaux, France factory. It
was also built in Czechoslovakia by Leichtbau Budweis (73 aircraft)
then production was transferred to Benes-Mraz (64 aircraft) in Chocen.
Also built under licence in Romania by Intreprinderea de Constructii
Aeronautice Romanesti (ICAR), which was founded in Bucharest in
1932 (80 Fi 156C-3).
Powerplant: One
240 hp (179 kW) Argus As 10C-3 8-cylinder inverted-Vee air-cooled
piston engine driving a Schwartz two-blade fixed pitch wooden propeller
(Gustav Schwartz PropellerWerke). Oil tank capacity 2.42 Imperial
gallons (11.0 litres).
Performance:
Maximum speed 109 mph (175 km/h) at sea level; economical cruising
speed 81 mph (130 km/h); landing speed 32 mph (51 km/h); service
ceiling 15,090 ft (4600 m); climb to 3,000 ft (915 m) in 4 minutes.
Fuel Capacity:
One fuel tank in each wingroot with a capacity of 16.28 Imperial
gallons (74 litres) with an optional 45 Imperial gallon (204.54 litres)
fuel tank in the fuselage instead of the two passengers. This gave the
aircraft a total of 77.5 Imperial gallons (352.54 litres). Some
aircraft also had a provision for a single 66 Imperial gallon (300
litres) seal-sealing drop tank carried under the fuselage.
Range: Normal
range of 240 miles (385 km) with 32.56 Imperial gallons (148 litres) of
fuel and a crew of three. Maximum range 630 miles (1010 km) with a crew
of one and 77.5 Imperial gallons (352.54 litres) of fuel with a
cruising speed of 60 mph (96 km/h) at sea level.
Weight: Empty
2,050 lbs (930 kg) with a maximum take-off weight of 2,921 lbs (1325
kg).
Dimensions: Span
46 ft 9 in (14.25 m); length 32 ft 5 3/4 in (9.90 m); height 10 ft 0 in
(3.05 m); wing area 279.87 sq ft (26.00 sq m).
Armament:
(Optional) One 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 15 machine-gun on a trainable LL-K
swivel mount firing rearward. Standard ammunition loadout consisted of
four drum magazines (50 or 75 rounds each) carried stowed on the rear
lower bulkhead. Armed versions were usually crewed by a Pilot and an
Observer/Gunner.
Variants: Fi 156
V1/V2/V3, Fi 156 V4, Fi 156 V5, Fi 156A-0, Fi 156A-1, Fi 156B, Fi
156C-0, Fi 156C-1, Fi 156C-2, Fi 156C-3, Fi 156C-3/Trop, Fi 156C-5, Fi
156C-5/Trop, Fi 156D-0, Fi 156D-1, Fi 156E-0, Fi 256, Morane-Saulnier
M.S. 500 Criquet "Locust" Series (France), Benes-Mraz K-65 Cap "Stork"
(Czechoslovakia).
Equipment/Avionics:
Standard communication and navigation equipment with provision for an
underfuselage camera. Some aircraft were equipped with night flying
gear and a FuG 17 radio set.
Landing Gear: A
split type consisting of two compression legs incorporating long-stroke
steel-spring oil-dampened shock absorbers. The upper ends attached to
the apices of two pyramids on the sides of the fuselage, with the lower
ends hinged to the centreline of the underside of the fuselage by
steel-tube Vees. Low pressure wheels with hydraulic brakes. The
tailskid has steel-spring oil-damped shock absorbers. In flight, the
undercarriage 'drooped' 18 inches more than when on the ground, giving
a 'stork like' appearance and hence the name.
History: First
flight (prototype) 24 May 1936; service introduction (Fi 156A-1) early
1937; German production terminated (all types) October 1943 but
production in France and Czechoslovakia continued.
Operators:
Germany (Luftwaffe), Bulgaria (20), Hungary (36), Finland (2), Italy
(6), Romania (10 also built more under licence), Slovakia (10), Spain
(10), Sweden (19), Switzerland (5), Croatia (4), Soviet Union (1),
Britain, United States, France (Armeé de l'Air and the Aéronavale).
Great Britain and the United States captured many aircraft intact. The
British which captured upwards of 60 aircraft used them in the RAF
during, and after, the end of the war.
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