If you want to know more about the real plane behind the FT Simple Storch, here's an article!
The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was the first true STOL aircraft. It was a fantastic all-terrain, go anywhere aircraft for its time and shaped the STOL aircraft we see today. So, why was it so good? Read on to find out more about the plane behind the foam board model.
The Simple Storch Kit!
If you're unaware, we actually produce a simple foam board model of the Fieseler Storch that you can build yourself. You can download the free plans and cut one out, or you can buy a laser cut speedbuild kit and electronics to assemble your very own RC aircraft.
Read More: Link to Article
Plans: FT Simple Storch [FULL]
Plans: FT Simple Storch [TILED]
Store: Link to Laser Cut Kit
Here's a throwback to that time when we tried to deliver breakfast with four Simple Storches.
Background
As a pure STOL plane, the Storch was extremely impressive when it was first flown in the mid-1930s. Pilots were blown away by how it performed on takeoff and landing. Without flaps, it could land at 62kph. With flaps, it could do it at just 51kph. Combine this with the short distance needed to land - just 10 meters with a headwind - you could almost land the plane within its own 9.9-meter length.
The plane came about as a response to a request from the German air ministry. Manufacturers Messerschmitt and Siebel submitted entries, but the Storch annihilated all competition.
It was so good that many other countries ended up flying the Storch in their air forces. A few captured examples were even used as an allied transport because they were simply excellent planes! Here's British Priminister Winston Churchill sitting in the rear of a Storch soon after D-Day in 1944.
What Made The Aircraft So Great?
There are multiple factors that made the Storch such a capable STOL aircraft. Firstly, let's start with the engine. The Argus As 10 air-cooled inverted engine fitted to the original Storch could produce around 240hp. Although this doesn't seem like an abundance of power, it could very easily accelerate the lightweight airframe of the Storch, which was just 900kg when unloaded, in a very short amount of time indeed.
The wings were also one of the Storch's keys to success. They had (quite literally) a ton of lift and were fitted with leading edge slats and large flaps to provide even more. These additions also enabled pilots to fly the airplane at aggressive angles of attack to further slow the machine down on landings.
Talking of landings, the landing gear on this small plane was extremely sturdy. It meant it could go almost anywhere and take a beating. If you wanted to survey some land for a new airfield, you would take a Storch there first. If you were flying in a snowy climate, you could fit the plane with skis and land on a mountain. This thing was extremely versatile and made a name for itself in every theater of war it operated in.
It's no surprise the Storch turned out to be extremely useful and served the Luftwaffe well during the Second World War. It was used throughout the entire conflict in a number of roles. One particular job it did with much success was acting as a transport for commanders. They would go up in the aircraft, get a picture of the battle and then return to the ground to physically instruct tank divisions and squadrons to advance on certain targets. Its study wheels made the Storch ideal for landing in fields and on wide roads.
As a testament to the engineering and design behind the Storch, the 1930s airplane was used extensively after the war by numerous countries all over the world. Although you can see quite a few examples in museums, some are still flying. It really was a groundbreaking design and shaped the way designers though about Short Take Off and Landing aircraft in the years that followed its introduction.
Other Articles On The Real Aircraft Behind Our Kits
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Comment below which aircraft we should make into a foam board RC model next!
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
Contact: james@flitetest.com
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/projectairaviation
In 1929 the Curtis Tanager won the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition. You can look it up on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Tanager
This revolutionary aircraft, for its day, never resulted in any direct sales, but the features it demonstrated have become commonplace. They include Fowler flaps, Leading edge slats, floating ailerons, and long stroke compliant landing gear. At almost 2,000 pounds empty it could carry 2 people, fly in control at 31 MPH (50 Kph), and land in 90 ft. (27.4 Meters).
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https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q289155#/media/File:SAI_KZ_III_1.jpg
The aircraft company in Denmark which has produced most aircraft (186) is “Skandinavisk Aero Industri-SAI” Also known as Kramme & Zeuthen after its two managers.
The prototype KZIII OY-DOZ was constructed with much inspiration from and same overall features as the Storch and flew first on 11.9.44 dressed up as an ambulance plaine. It could carry a pilot, a nurse and a patient on a strecher behind the 2 front seats.
It actually outperformed the Storch in a STOL competition a few years after the war.
I saw my first KZIII when I was 5 years old back in 1952 on a local airfield and that memory has stuck with me ever since. Im trying to build a lookalike 1/10 scale model, much like the Flite Test Simple Cub.
The wing span is the same, but wing area is smaller, so I am afraid it will be too heavy.
Im hoping to publish some of the building proces and construcktion pictures over at the Mad (Scratch) Builder's Corner at some time in the future. But Im a slow builder and a poor RC-pilot, so who knows when ;.)
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To find the finest examples of the STOL planes of this era, just google "Challenge International de Tourisme" - it was the official FAI International Tourist Plane Competition that included - among others - short take-off and landing trials. Most of the planes flown in that competition had lower stall speed than the Storch, and literally all of them had higher max/cruise speed.
Among all of the planes that entered this competition, the most noticeable was the polish RWD-6/9 plane - the one that won the last two Challenges in 1932 and '34. Although we don't have exact take-off/landing distances as recorded for the Storch (measured to the last/first point of wheels touching the ground), we do have an official measures from the Challenge competition: take-off at/landing from an 8m (26ft) gate. In both cases RWD-6 was able to perform the task using approx. 100m (330ft); and the RWD-9 was even better, using less than 80m (260ft). All this with a stall speed of 57/54km/h (36/33mph), max speed exceeding 250km/h (155mph), great climb rate (both exceeded Storch's performance significantly) and many additional features useful for "tourist airplane" (like automatic aero-mechanical slats and flaps!! or wings that could be folded by one person) that the Storch didn't have at all.
So why everybody knows the Storch and almost nobody ever heard about RWD-6/9? The answer is in the shear scale of production: there were almost 3000 german planes built and flown all around the globe, while there was only... 13 polish planes of both types, including one that was used for static tests and was never flown. And I bet the start ow WW2 and the complete annihilation of the polish aviation industry didn't help much either.
All this (and obviously more) can be googled out when you know what to look for. I hope anyone will find this short lesson of the history interesting, and will try to find out more about the pre-WW2 polish aviation industry and achievements. It's way more interesting than you may expect.
Good luck, and have fun!
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I find it quite strange that the FAI "Challenge International" competitions (which, incidentally, were quite competitive and renowned in their day) are so obscure nowadays.
Many known designers / companies cut their teeth experimenting with various cutting-edge (at the time) aerodynamic and mechanical ideas when creating airplanes meant for those competitions. And that includes pretty much all German manufacturers - Heinkel, Klemm, Storch, Focke-Wulf, Messerschmitt and Fieseler himself, who designed the Fi-97 low-wing monoplane specifically for the 1934 competition. Curiously, when later designing the Storch, he opted for a high-wing configuration - similar to the winning RWD-6 and RWD-9.
Another well known airplane that made was designed for the 1934 Chellenge was Messerschmitt Bf 108... the direct precursor to the Bf 109 (na the fastest plane to take part in the competition).
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The successor to the successful, high-performance "nine" was RWD 13, better suited to everyday use and more economical. However, she retained the excellent properties of STOL. More (around 100) were produced.
After defeating Poland by the Germans in 1939, Fieseler got a captured RWD 13. It was his wish. From that moment RWD 13 became a plane for Fieseler's personal use.
Gerhard Fieseler was a constructor fascinated by the topic of low speed performance and in addition to others, the RWD design solutions inspired him, as described in interesting posts above.
Regards!
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