On May 24, 1936 a new and revolutionary aircraft took flight for the first time and in so doing made its way into aviation history.
The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was the answer to a call out by the Reich Avaition Ministry in 1935 for a new aircraft for the Luftwaffe capable of liaison, medical evacuation and observation missions. Despite heavy competition eventually the aircraft chosen was one built by Fieseler and it was by far the best at what is called STOL, or Short Take Off and Landing.
In flight, with its long wings and extra-long landing gear, it resembled a long-legged, big-winged bird, hence the nickname of Storch. It was a rarity among aircraft in that its wings could fold back along the fuselage, which meant it could be carried on a trailer for transport. Another oddity of this aircraft was its extra long landing gear, or legs, and the special shock absorbers on them that compressed up to eighteen inches upon landing. This feature plus its slow air speed allowed the Storch to land practically anywhere, a trait which was demonstrated to perfection in the rescue of Mussolini from Gran Sasso during World War 2. A helicopter tried but failed during the rescue attempt and then a Storch was brought in, landed safely in mountainous terrain and then was able to take off again with only 250 feet of runway, a truly remarkable feat for the time.
The Storch was used in Germany until the war’s end in 1945 and was later used by France until 1970 when it was retired; in all over 2,900 of them were built and flown.
Aces High in its new version will be introducing the Fi 156 Storch for flight sim gamers to try out as an observer or spotter plane. We are pretty excited about introducing this new aircraft to our popular combat flight simulator game; it is somewhat of a departure from the normal aircraft you find on our game but we think you will find it to be a kick to fly and quite valuable if used for reconnaissance over battlefields.
At HiTech Creations we keep changing because we are determined to remain the number one World War 2 Flight Simulator on the market. That was our goal when we started out and it remains our goal today. If you are new to Aces High try our free download and you will find out why so many gamers fly the skies of Aces High.
