German STORCH of WWII

[Another Ahab]

The Wustennotstaffeln operated the medical evac version which was actually the Fi156D-0 and D-1 versions. To my knowledge it only had the pilot and one litter casualty. The main change between the C version and the D was an upward hinged loading compartment on the sides of the fuselage aft of the end of the glass. This helped ease loading the litter. Not sure of the source of two litters, a medic and a pilot but only 240 hp engine for takeoff.....

Think I ran across it in some on-line article about Norwegian (or maybe it was Swiss) variants:

- And then I ran across the simulations, so figured there was something to it all

Should have been more cautious about the pitfalls of the www.

Lesson learned: caveat emptor.

 

[Another Ahab]

VR Flight

Ran across a link about a Virtual Reality (VR) Storch you can fly.

Apparently the realism of the set-up is ranked superior.

Here's a link to the review (reference is made to the software and how to purchase, etc):

http://mutleyshangar.com/reviews/joe/storch/storch.htm

 

[Another Ahab]

The Wustennotstaffeln operated the medical evac version which was actually the Fi156D-0 and D-1 versions. To my knowledge it only had the pilot and one litter casualty. The main change between the C version and the D was an upward hinged loading compartment on the sides of the fuselage aft of the end of the glass. This helped ease loading the litter. Not sure of the source of two litters, a medic and a pilot but only 240 hp engine for takeoff.....

Think I ran across it in some on-line article about Norwegian (or maybe it was Swiss) variants:

.

Single Stretcher confirmed at a (seemingly) reliable source. Description is here:

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.

 

[Another Ahab]

Auxiliary Fuel Tank



Some aircraft also had a provision for a single 66 Imperial gallon (300 litres) seal-sealing drop tank carried under the fuselage:

 

[Another Ahab]

Includes the Swiss also, with a connection to an heroic rescue on a mountain glacier (link in blue below):

The Swiss Air Force and other mountainous European countries continued to use the Storch for rescues in terrain where STOL performance is 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.

For record:

- Two more Swiss (wartime 1943, 1944) entries

 

[ODFever]

This is a fascinating thread. I will have to reread the entire thing to absorb all of the history behind this amazing aircraft and how it was used. Thanks to all who have posted here. I am humbled by the lessons I've learned.

Chaplain - I am deeply moved by your story as well. You are one of the most honorable and forthright men I haven't had the opportunity to meet face to face. I look forward to the day that I can shake your hand and thank you for your service to this great nation.

 

[Another Ahab]

- Membership

In the

They've been here -in the Club- so long that none of us even noticed them at first:

- The Spanish, of course,

The first six aircraft transferred from Germany to Spain were early Fi 156A types and were operated by the Condor Legion.

The Condor Legion was a unit composed of "volunteers" from the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Wehrmacht (Army), that served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-March 1939). It was Hitler's way of test-driving his military machine, before putting it to work.

These aircraft were coded 46-01 to 46-06 and were not used as observation aircraft, but mainly for liaison duties and as personal tacks.

The first four aircraft arrived in late 1936 and were delivered to Stab/88. The remaining 4 Fi 156As were supplemented by some 20 Fi 156C-2s from 1939 onwards and these were used both for civilian as for military purposes. They were retired in 1962.

 

[Another Ahab]

The wing and tail structure of the Fielseler Storch were built up of wooden components:

- Not sure if that was common during the era

But for record here's some shots (scale, but accurate) of her "bone" structure

 

[Another Ahab]

A very good video summary here of the Storch, and its war history, by a retired Cobra pilot who happens to be a big fan of the aircraft:

- But one part you can't miss is the story of Hannah Reitsch (7:05 - 8:57). Check it out.

- Now we know "the rest of the story" - not only did she 1) fly the Storch through a hot combat zone under fire, AND 2) land it in a city street, but 3) from the backseat, and 4) with stick and throttle only, 5) over the slumped figure of her wounded pilot-colleague.

Hannah Reitsch has been robbed by history, first for being an unrepentant Nazi and second because of her gender. Forgotten mostly, but unquestionably one of the foremost aviators of all history. Amazing pilot:


http://youtu.be/-9_nsts__zo


View attachment 524060

She also demonstrated one of the first German helicopters - inside a building!

Cheers

Cannot find a second confirmation of this story about Hannah Reitsch flying in the Storch over the unconscious body of von Griem. The pilot here in the video seems entirely credible, and clearly has done his homework, but without a second confirmation of the story from another source, I'm thinking we need to table it.

STILL amazing that she piloted that Storch, even conventionally, through the Soviet flak, AND landed it in the mayhem on the Berlin streets.

Hannah Reitsch, amazing aviator: I'll maybe post a separate thread on her somewhere, like the helicopter forum, or something.

 

[Another Ahab]

Other Creations by Fieseler

Ran across this:

Another creation towards the very end of the war by our own Mr. Fieseler, the STOL expert (and this is most definitely a short take-off aircraft). It worked out OK that the war ended ended when it did (and not much later):


The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (English: Colubrid, grass-snake[SUP][1][/SUP]) was a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile.

After a vertical take-off, which eliminated the need for airfields, most of the flight to the Allied bombers was to be controlled by an autopilot. The primary role of the relatively untrained pilot was to aim the aircraft at its target bomber and fire its armament of rockets.

The pilot and the fuselage containing the rocket-motor would then land using separate parachutes, while the nose section was disposable.

The only manned vertical take-off flight on 1 March 1945 ended in the death of the test pilot, Lothar Sieber. End of Story (this editorial comment here is mine).

 

[frank8003]

Just wondering
Storch used as ambulance a few times
Airplanes can not go without trucks




https://www.google.com/search?biw=8...truck#tbm=isch&q=pre+WW1+truck&spell=1&imgdii=_

Things that can fly are always good or bad, depending which end of it you are on.......................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-rEI4bezWc

 

[Another Ahab]

Just wondering
Storch used as ambulance a few times

EMT Drone:

- Very Cool

 

[Another Ahab]

More on Fieseler's BA 349 "Natter"

So late in the war that the development proved useless:

- There was also technology transfer to the Japanese through the big U-Boats



But "what if" is pointless. Brief video summary here

http://youtu.be/Df-50yROvFs

 

[Another Ahab]

Wrapping up here, about the BA 349:

- First video is flat amateur, but tells the story

- Second video shows period film footage of actual captured "Natters" (up to the 2 minute mark, remainder is about, what looks to be, a German air-to-air missile design)



http://youtu.be/wbKFQYPVdIs



http://youtu.be/t-P8NjcMemY

 

[CARNAC]

Try this one for rare and unknown.

Air to Air
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1050

ATGM
http://www.wehrmacht-history.com/luftwaffe/missiles/x7-rotkaeppchen-anti-tank-missile.htm

 

[Another Ahab]

Wrapping up here, about the BA 349:

- Second video shows period film footage of actual captured "Natters" (up to the 2 minute mark, remainder is about, what looks to be, a German air-to-air missile design)

Try this one for rare and unknown.

Air to Air

Remarkable product for 1945. That is the exact same ordnance filmed in the second half of this video (one about the Natter), from about the 2:14 mark, on.


http://youtu.be/t-P8NjcMemY

 

[Wolfen]

A WWII German S.A.M. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserfall

 

[Another Ahab]

Albert Speer's Memoir

A WWII German S.A.M. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserfall

Another book to go on the reading list

 

[Another Ahab]

- There was also technology transfer to the Japanese through the big U-Boats
/QUOTE]

Brief summary here of the German U-Boat exchanges with Japan.



I read somewhere the biggest problem was food (when the U-Boat sailings included Japanese military staff), because Japanese were not fond of sausage (the German staple), and the German crews were not fond of rice (the Japanese staple). Kind of funny:

The U-195 reached Jakarta on December 28 1944 and delivered some very valuable cargo to the Japanese, among it optical glass, mercury, torpedoes, electronic equipment such as radars and military weapons such as a dismantled V-1 Flying bomb and its pulse jet motor.

The other Type XB, the U-234 had a very unique career. Loaded with 260 tons of cargo, among it blueprints for advanced German weapons and equipment disassembled into crates, but the most unusual item was 0.55 tons (560 kg) of Uranium Oxide. The U-234 sailed from Norway on April 16 1945, when Germany was on the verge of defeat and on May 4, received the order to surrender.

The final German Transport boat was U-864, a Type IXD2. She sailed from Norway on February 5 1945, but was sunk en route on February 9 1945 in the North Sea by a British submarine, the HMS Venturer. The engagement took place underwater and is the only known historic engagement by which one submarine was sunk by another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Type_IX_submarine

 

[CARNAC]

IIRC the U864 went down with a load of mercury that is seeping into the sea. I think the Norwegian Gov was going to entomb it in concreter to prevent an ecological disaster.


Other rare weapons
Panzerfaust 150 and 250.
Vampire night vision equipment
SdKfz251/17 through 23 versions and especially the Uhl (owl) with the night vision equipment
Panzer I Ausf F (twin MG heavy armored version)
Panzer I Ausf C (with the equally rare EW141 heavy machine gun)
Kummerlauf curved barrel design for the StG44
Sturmtiger

I could go on and on. There are literally thousands of designs