AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 55 / 154

Plate 55 of 154 · Second World War · Liaison, observation and casualty-evacuation monoplane

Fieseler Fi 156C-7 Storch

Fi 156C-7, painted as Werknummer 475081 ‘GM+AK’, the RAF Museum’s Fieseler Fi 156C-7 Storch, built in 1944, captured in 1945 and flown at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough as AM.101 and then VP546, when Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown landed it on the carrier HMS Triumph in 1946, grounded in 1955 for want of spares and later instructional airframe 7362M, now displayed at Cosford: a high-wing, three-seat liaison and observation aircraft with an Argus As 10 inverted V8, fixed full-span leading-edge slats, slotted flaps and ailerons, a glazed cabin with bulged side windows and long-stroke oleo main legs, shown as it is displayed there: black-green and dark green splinter camouflage above, light blue beneath, ‘GM+AK’ codes in dark grey either side of the fuselage cross, a black swastika on the fin, crosses under the wings and a two-blade wooden propeller with yellow tips.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Werknummer 475081 ‘GM+AK’, the RAF Museum’s Fieseler Fi 156C-7 Storch, built in 1944, captured in 1945 and flown at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough as AM.101 and then VP546, when Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown landed it on the carrier HMS Triumph in 1946, grounded in 1955 for want of spares and later instructional airframe 7362M, now displayed at Cosford: a high-wing, three-seat liaison and observation aircraft with an Argus As 10 inverted V8, fixed full-span leading-edge slats, slotted flaps and ailerons, a glazed cabin with bulged side windows and long-stroke oleo main legs, shown as it is displayed there: black-green and dark green splinter camouflage above, light blue beneath, ‘GM+AK’ codes in dark grey either side of the fuselage cross, a black swastika on the fin, crosses under the wings and a two-blade wooden propeller with yellow tips. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (919 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Fi 156C-7 modelled here.

History

The Storch

In 1935 the Reich Air Ministry asked for a light aircraft that could carry a staff officer, spot for the artillery or lift out a wounded man from almost any field. Gerhard Fieseler, a First World War fighter ace and aerobatic champion, gave the job to his designers Reinhold Mewes and Erich Bachem, and their answer was the Fi 156: a high-wing monoplane of steel tube and fabric with an Argus inverted V8, fixed slats along the whole leading edge, slotted flaps and ailerons along the whole trailing edge, and long-stroke oleo legs that could soak up a heavy landing on rough ground. The cabin was glazed all round, with side windows that bulged outwards so the crew could look straight down. The first prototype flew in May 1936, and the Storch beat the Messerschmitt Bf 163 and the Siebel Si 201 for the production order.

With a headwind of about 25 mph the Storch could take off in some 50 metres and land in less than 20, coming in at little more than walking pace; it could almost hover. The C series was the main production version, the C-7 of 1943 being a three-seater, and the wings folded back along the fuselage so that it could be towed behind a car or stored under trees. Storchs flew wherever the German army went, from Norway to North Africa and Russia, as liaison and command aircraft, artillery spotters and air ambulances. Rommel used one in the desert, and Allied commanders prized captured examples: Montgomery kept one as his personal aircraft.

Its most famous flight came on 12 September 1943, when Captain Heinrich Gerlach landed a Storch on a tiny slope beside the hotel on the Gran Sasso where Mussolini was held, and flew him off, overloaded, with Otto Skorzeny squeezed in behind. In April 1945 Hanna Reitsch landed General Robert Ritter von Greim on the East-West Axis in the middle of Berlin in another. About 2,900 were built in Germany and in occupied countries; production carried on after the war in France as the Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet and in Czechoslovakia as the Mráz K-65 Čáp, and many still fly.

This airframe

Fieseler Fi 156C-7 Storch 475081 “GM+AK”

475081The airframe modelled

Werknummer 475081 was built in 1944 and carried the radio call-sign codes GM+AK. It was captured in 1945 and brought to Britain, where the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough flew it as AM.101 and then as VP546. Among its tasks there were deck landings on the aircraft carrier HMS Triumph in 1946, flown by Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, formation flying with helicopters so that their rotor blades could be photographed in the air, glider towing and ordinary communications flights. It was kept flying until 1955, when it was grounded for want of spare parts, and later became instructional airframe 7362M. It has long been part of the RAF Museum collection and is now displayed at Cosford. The model shows it as it is displayed there: black-green and dark green splinter camouflage on the upper surfaces and down the fuselage sides, light blue beneath and on the lower cowling, the codes GM+AK in dark grey either side of the fuselage cross, a black swastika on the fin, the Werknummer in small figures on the rudder, large crosses under the wings and a wooden propeller with yellow tips. No rear gun or radio mast is fitted. No photograph shows the top of the aircraft, so the camouflage pattern on top of the wings follows the standard scheme.

See it at Royal Air Force Museum Midlands

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Storch in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 154 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.