Used extensively by the German Luftwaffe during World War II, the Fieseler
Fi 156 Storch was a remarkable STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing)
aircraft. Using high lift devices including full-span leading slats
and trailing edge flaps, the Storch could take off in 200 ft (60 m) in a
light breeze and land in about 1/3 of that distance.
First flown in 1936, the three-seat Storch was found virtually
everywhere German forces operated. Its best know mission is the
rescue of Benito Mussolini from imprisonment in a hotel in the Apennine mountains in 1943.
During the war the Fi 156 was produced for the Luftwaffe by
Morane-Saulnier in France and Mraz in Czechoslovakia. After the war
civilian variants were produced by these two manufacturers designated the M.S.500
and K-65 respectively.
