DECALS
ONLY FOR ESCI 1/48 FIESELER Fi156C STORCH WW2 LUFTWAFFE SPAIN SWITZERLAND
SWEDEN
ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC VINTAGE DECALS ONLY
IN THIS AUCTION – THERE IS NO KIT INCLUDED
Fieseler Fi 156C-1 Storch ES
Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) L 16-9 1945
Fieseler Fi 156C-2 Storch - Schweizerische
Flugwaffe (Swiss Air Force) A 97 March 1943
Fieseler Fi 156C-3 Storch - 3R
Wehrmacht Luftwaffe Kurierstaffel Oberkomando der Luftwaffe- Lehrgeschwader 2
L2 BA - September 1942 Russian Front
Fieseler S 14B Storch Svenska
Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) F3 3824/825 1945 - Malmen AB
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Additional Information from
Internet Encyclopedia
----------------------------
Additional Information from
Internet Encyclopedia
The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (English: 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 for its excellent STOL performance and low stall speed of 31
mph (50 km/h).
In 1935, the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium,
Reich Aviation Ministry) invited several aviation companies to submit design
proposals that would compete for the production contract for a new Luftwaffe
aircraft design suitable for liaison, army co-operation (today called forward
air control), and medical evacuation. This resulted in the Messerschmitt Bf 163
and Siebel Si 201 competing against the Fieseler firm's entry. Conceived by
chief designer Reinhold Mewes and technical director Erich Bachem, Fieseler's
design had a far better short take off and landing ("STOL")
performance. A fixed slat ran along the entire length of the leading edge of
the long wings, while a hinged and slotted set of control surfaces ran along
the entire length of trailing edge. This was inspired by earlier 1930s Junkers
Doppelflügel, "double-wing" aircraft wing control surface design
concepts. For the Fi 156, this setup along each wing panel's trailing edge was
split nearly 50/50 between the inboard-located flaps and outboard-located
ailerons, which, in turn, included trim tab devices over half of each aileron's
trailing edge length.
A design feature rare for land-based aircraft
enabled the wings on the Storch to be folded back along the fuselage in a manner
similar to the wings of the U.S. Navy's Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter. This
allowed the aircraft to be carried on a trailer or even towed slowly behind a
vehicle. The primary hinge for the folding wing was located in the wing root,
where the rear wing spar met the cabin. The long legs of the main landing gear
contained oil-and-spring shock absorbers that had a travel of 40 cm (15-3/4
inches), allowing the aircraft to land on comparatively rough and uneven
surfaces; this was combined with a "pre-travel" distance of 20 cm,
before the oleos began damping the landing gear shock.[3] In flight, the main
landing gear legs hung down, giving the aircraft the appearance of a
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 winds from directly ahead.
About 2,900 Fi 156s, mostly Cs, were produced from
1937 to 1945. Main production was at the Fieseler Factory in Kassel, in 1942
production started in the Morane-Saulnier factory at Puteaux in France. Due to
the demand for Fieseler as a subcontractor for building the Fw 190, Fi 156
production was shifted to Leichtbau Budweis in Budweis by the end of 1943.
Soviet production
In 1939, after the signing of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germany provided several aircraft, including the Fi
156C, to the Soviet Union. Oleg Antonov was made responsible for putting the
aircraft into production to meet Soviet requirements, and given a choice
between designing an equivalent aircraft or merely copying the German design,
the latter was selected. Two versions were envisaged: the SS three seat liaison
aircraft, and the N-2 air ambulance capable of carrying two stretchers plus a
medic. A prototype was constructed in Kaunas, Lithuania, which flew before the
end of 1940, and production was getting under way as the factory was lost to
the German advance in 1941. While Antonov's efforts had produced a heavier
aircraft, which required as much as three times the field for landing and take
off as the German Fi 156C, it also had much greater range and increased load
capability.[4] After the war Antonov went on to design the legendary An-2 STOL
biplane, which was similarly famous for its excellent STOL performance.
Czech production
In 1944 production was moved from the Leichtbau
Budweis to the Mráz factory in Choceň which produced 138 examples of the Fi
156, locally designated as "K-65 Čáp". Production ended in 1949.
French production
Morane-Saulnier MS.505 Criquet
Immediately after the liberation of France in
1944, the production of Fi 156 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 air-cooled inverted V8
engines. Further modifications and use of different engines (inline and radial)
are known under different type numbers. The use of the aircraft in Indochina
highlighted the weakness of the wood in the construction of the airframe; it
was then decided to build the wings of metal. Among the modifications, the
defensive weapon aiming through the back window was dropped, although some
aircraft were modified in the field to take a MAC 34T machine gun firing
through one of the side windows. Some 141 aircraft were built before the end of
World War II, and a total of 925 aircraft were built before the end of the
production of all types of Criquet by Morane-Saulnier in 1965.
Licence production was also started in Romania in
October 1943 at the ICAR factory in Bucharest. Only 10 were built by the time
the ICAR factory was bombed in May 1944. Production resumed later in 1944, but
only six were completed before repair work halted production. From June 1945
until 1946, a further 64 aircraft were built.
The Storch was deployed in all European and North
African theaters of World War II, but it is probably most famous for its role
in Operation Eiche, the 1943 rescue of deposed Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini from a boulder-strewn mountain-top near the Gran Sasso. Even though
the mountain was surrounded by Italian troops, German commando Otto Skorzeny
and 90 paratroopers used gliders to land on the peak and quickly captured it.
However, the problem of how to get back off remained. A Focke-Achgelis Fa 223
helicopter was sent, but it broke down en route. Instead, pilot Heinrich
Gerlach flew in a Storch. It landed in 30 m (100 ft), and after Mussolini and
Skorzeny boarded, it took off in 80 m (250 ft), even though the aircraft was
overloaded. The Storch involved in rescuing Mussolini bore the radio code
letters, or Stammkennzeichen, of "SJ + LL"[8] in the motion picture
coverage of the daring rescue.
On 26 April 1945, a Storch was one of the last
aircraft 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
Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin to answer a
summons from Hitler.
A Storch was the victim of the last dogfight on
the Western Front and another was downed by a direct Allied counterpart of the
Storch, an L-4 Grasshopper, the military version of the well-known American
Piper J-3 Cub civilian training and sport aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot of
the L-4, lieutenants Duane Francis and Bill Martin, opened fire on the Storch
with their .45 caliber pistols, forcing the German air crew to land and
surrender.
Field Marshal Rommel used Storch aircraft for
transport and battlefield surveillance during the North African desert campaign
of World War II.
During the war a number of Störche were captured
by the Allies. One became the personal aircraft of Field Marshal Montgomery.
Others were used as the personal aircraft of Air Vice Marshal Arthur Coningham
and Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst, who acquired his Storch in North Africa,
and flew it subsequently in Italy and North-West Europe.
The British captured 145, of which 64 were given
to the French as war compensation from Germany.
The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) and the
French Army Light Aviation (Aviation Légère de l’Armée de Terre) used the
Criquet from 1945 to 1958 throughout the Indochina War and the Algerian War.
The Swiss Air Force and other mountainous European countries continued to use
the Storch for rescues in terrain where STOL performance was necessary, as with
the historically significant Gauli Glacier crash rescue in November 1946, as a
pair of Flugwaffe-flown Storches were the sole means to get its twelve survivors
to safety. After World War II, Storch aircraft were used in utility roles
including agricultural spraying. Many Storches are still operational today and
are commonly shown at air shows. In North America, both the Collings Foundation
and the Fantasy of Flight museum have airworthy Fi 156 Storch aircraft in their
collections.
Bulgaria
Bulgarian Air Force
Cambodia
Royal Khmer Aviation - AVRK (Post war) and Khmer
Air Force (KAF)
Croatia
Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakian Air Force (Post war)
Police aviation (cs) (Post war)
Egypt
Egyptian Air Force
Finland
Finnish Air Force
France
French Air Force (Post war)
French Navy (Post war)
French Army (Post war)
Germany
Luftwaffe
United Kingdom
Royal Air Force
Greece
Greek Air Force (Post war)
Hungary
Royal Hungarian Air Force
Italy
Regia Aeronautica
Laos
Royal Lao Air Force (Post war)
Morocco
Royal Moroccan Air Force (Post war)
Norway
Royal Norwegian Air Force (Post war)
Poland
Polish Air Force (Post war)
Polish Navy (Post war)
Romania
Royal Romanian Air Force
Romanian Air Force (Post war)
Slovakia
Slovak Air Force (1939–1945)
South Vietnam
Republic of Vietnam Air Force (Post war)
Soviet Union
Soviet Air Force
Spain
Spanish Air Force
Sweden
Swedish Air Force
Switzerland
Swiss Air Force
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Yugoslav Royal Air Force
Yugoslavia
SFR Yugoslav Air Force
