Just ran across this on You Tube. Saw a newer one or repro at U77 one day. Wild looking planes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3QuWqLf5DM

The Fiessler Storch was the plane that rescued Hitlers imprisoned friend Mussolini by landing in a very short courtyard of a heavily guarded mountain top resort while the German army provided a diversionary attack from the bottom. The helicopter that was to be used broke down at the last moment and a Luftwafte pilot said he could do it with the Storch. If Germany had won the war there would have been movies about the daring heroism of its pilot and the unmatched stol abilities of that plane. After capture the planes were copied by the French to build the Cricquet, and by the Russians and also to some degree, the Helio Courier.

The Storch was also the very last aircraft to fly out of Berlin at the closing moments of the war. The famous, talented (and very flawed) test pilot Hanna Reitsch flew a German general in to see Hitler during the very last days, so Hitler could give his last orders for what should be done in his absence. Hanna reportedly begged Hitler not to commit suicide in the bunker, but he knew the game was up and ordered her to get out while they could. She took off in the Storch from the bombed out city and I believe it was the last flight out before the end of the war.

For those further interested in the Storch, there is a great book titled "Wings of the Weird and Wonderful" by Capt. Eric Brown, a British test pilot who evaluated it immediately after the war. He said that the airplane was an incredibly capable machine, and although not fully foolproof it was very close.

Here is a link to a 75% scale LSA version of the Storch.

http://www.criquetaviation.com/index.html

I took a look at one at Sun 'n Fun two years ago.









The plane looked very well built and I am seriously considering building one after we finish the 701. They sell as a kit from a dealer in Florida.

Cool bits of history there... a paragraph is about all the farther my attention span goes when it comes to History Thanks for sharing.