Aircraft · Germany · 1937-1945

Fieseler Fi 156 Storch

STOL liaison and observation aircraft

The Storch was a light liaison aircraft famed for its extreme short-field performance, able to land and take off in under 50 meters thanks to full-span slats and a stalling speed of around 50 km/h. It carried commanders, casualties and dispatches to and from front lines across every German theatre, and its most famous mission was landing a small team on the Gran Sasso in September 1943 to fly out the rescued Benito Mussolini. Long, spindly landing gear gave it its name, German for "stork."

Wikipedia

crew	2-3
top speed	175 km/h
range	385 km
produced	~2,900

Western Europe, Eastern Front, Mediterranean and North Africa

Fieseler Storch 3Tony Hisgett · CC BY 2.0 · source

Photograph taken in "Museo del Aire", Spain. I am the author of this picture, and I'd desire everybody could see it freely in Wikipedia.The original uploader was Diego Dabrio at English Wikipedia. · Public domain · source

Fiesler Fi-156 Storch · CC BY 3.0 · source

Fieseler Fi 156 Storch — Toni Schneiders · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · source