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Best known for its wartime use by the Luftwaffe, the
remarkable Fieseler Fi.156 Storch
became synonymous with air operations over Indochina in the years
following World War 2. Initially produced at the Fieseler plant in
Kassel, in April 1942 the Storch also entered production for the
Luftwaffe in the Morane-Saulnier works in the Paris suburbs and 141
aircraft had been delivered at the end of the year. With the Reich's
air industry mobilized to meet the growing demand for home defence
fighters, the Fieseler plant was switched to making the Focke-Wulf FW
190 and Storch production
was entirely transferred to France and Czechoslovakia. In order to
rebuild both its air force and its aircraft industry in the immediate
post-war period, the French government decided to keep a number of
German designs in production and 925 Fi.156s were ordered under their
new designation, the Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet, while around 65 Störche captured as war booty
were turned over to the Armée de l'Air. Used for observation,
liaison and casualty evacuation, the Criquet
soon became a common sight over Indochina.
Available model
In 1/144 scale, the choice is limited to the pre-assembled Fieseler
Fi.156 Storch released by
Takara as part of their World Tank Museum
series of gashapon collectible
toys. While this is not quite a Criquet,
it is a good base for a conversion. Indeed, early production Criquets
were no different from the wartime Fi.156 C-7s or D-1s, some were in
fact
ex-Lutfwaffe planes with new markings.
Model description
The model comes
entirely pre-assembled and pre-painted in one of four
schemes: overall dark green, overall sand yellow, sand/green camouflage
and overall white winter scheme.
Surface detail is basic but quite acceptable although the numerous
struts are simplified, rather thick and out of scale. The fabric wings’
ribbing is peculiarly rendered: it is recessed below the wing’s upper
surface.
The most obvious error is apparent when the model’s profile is
examined because the
fuselage is rather too deep
beneath the rear cockpit and, as a result, the model looks quite wrong
when viewed from
the side.
Dimensions: |
Wingspan |
Length |
Plane (m) |
14.25 |
9.9 |
Model (cm) |
9.6
|
6.55
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Scale |
1/148
|
1/151
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Required modification.
Although the model can simply be repainted as a Criquet, some simple
modifications can significantly enhance it.
First of all, the wings should have the recessed area mentioned above
filled with putty and sanded flush. This not only gets rid of a poor
rendition of ribbing, it is also more accurate for the
aluminium-skinned wings favoured in Indochina because of the climate.
The fuselage profile also needs to be corrected by filing the bottom to
make it shallower underneath the observer’s position. Next are the wing
struts which are carefully prised off, thinned down
and reattached after the painting stage (thus giving easier access to
the canopy). Alternatively, the original wing struts can be binned and
replacements cut from thin plasticard substituted. This has the
additional advantage of allowing a more correct placement of the
struts, the original ones being attached too low on the fuselage.
Secondary struts can be added from brass wire though this can really be
done only if you replace the original wing struts. As for the huge
tailplane struts, they are best
cut and scaped off before being replaced by thin plasticard.
Replacing the original pitot
tube with a length of angled brass wire
glued under the port wing is a simple but effective alteration.
Finally, as an option, the tailplane elevators can be squared
off as
seen on some late-production machines.
Colours and markings
While the Criquets wore a
simple overall dark olive green livery, there
is some doubt as to the actual shade.
A dark olive green roughly similar to FS 34091 is mentioned in Fi 156
Storch Vol.1 while French modelling
magazines mention a paint close to FS 34079. Given that the Puteaux
plant originally produced these aircraft for the Lutfwaffe, it is
probably safe to assume it was in fact some local equivalent of RLM 71
Dunkelgrün and subject to variations. While some sources mention
Olive
Drab (FS 34087), it is doubtful that
this shade was used on Criquets in
Indochina although it certainly was
worn some time later in Algeria.
Markings were simple and were limited to regulation roundels in the six
usual locations, a fuselage code, usually one or two letters, and the
regulation tricolour rudder. A very large proportion of Criquets wore a factory-applied
white cross of Lorraine on the tail.
Aircraft used as FACs sometimes wore a
white square on each upper wing to make them easier to spot fom the
air though this was far from universal.
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This Navy Criquet
was assigned as a hack aircraft to the Tan Son Nhut mobile base.
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Criquets of the
fledging Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian air forces
followed a similar system with national flags on the rudder. VNAF
aircraft wore a single letter in the GAOC or a number in the CIAVN as a
fuselage code, while
Lao and Khmer Criquets were
too few to warrant
fuselage codes, the tail serial number being sufficient.
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Criquet of the VNAF's 1er Groupe Aérien d'Observation et
de Combat (1953)
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Criquet of the Laotian Air Force's
1re Escadrille
d'Observation (1954)
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Click
on the thumbnails below for full size images |

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This Criquet is one of several with a
modified lower fuselage possibly intende to carry pgotographic
equipment.
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One of three "sharkmouth"
aircraft known in Indochina (the
others being a Spitfire and a Mosquito), this is the aircraft profiled
at the top of this page. Note the long whip antenna.
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A Criquet of ELA 52 takes off from
aircraft carrier Dixmude which was used to ferry aircraft for the air
force as part of its 1947 deployment to Indochina.
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A good frontal
study of a Criquet from
22e GAOA in 1951. |
Another
photo of a 22e GAOA Criquet in Tan Son Nhut air
base showing the side markings. |
Briefing during
operation Atlas which saw the first combat missions flown by
the VNAF (April 1953). |
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Casevac Criquet (equivalent to a Fi.156
D-1) evacuating Vietnamese wounded in Hung Yen
province (January 1954). |
An
interesting in-flight photo
showing the peculiar position of the landing with the oleos fully
extended. |
A trio of Criquets
flying generals de Lattre de Tassigny, Salan and Baillif to Vinh Yen
(January 1951).
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Sources
- Dariusz KARNAS & Pawel PRZYMUSIALA, Fi 156 Storch Vol.1
(Militaria n.68), Wydawnictwo, Warsaw, 1998, ISBN 83-7219-019-4
- Dariusz KARNAS & Pawel PRZYMUSIALA, Fi 156 Storch Vol.2
(Militaria n.100), Wydawnictwo, Warsaw, 1999, ISBN 83-7219-059-3
- Heinz NOWARRA, Fieseler
156 "Storch", PPV GmbH, Fiedberg, 1979, ISBN 3-7909-0120-2
- Philippe RICCO & Jean-Claude SOUMILLE, Les Avions Allemands aux Couleurs
Francaises, Tome 1, Airdoc, Rochemaure, 1997, no ISBN
- Jean-Claude SOUMILLE, L'Aviation
Francaise en
Indochine 1946-1954,
Tome 2, Airdoc, Rochemaure, 1997, no ISBN
- Airliner.net's
excellent photo archives have several pages of photos covering the MS
Criquet and Fieseler
Storch
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