Exotic Fi 156

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hello,

There is a very interesting Fi 156 at BattleGroundRelics with several unusual features:

• There is something that looks like an aerial underneath the right wing at the wing root and an unidentified tubing structure --> does anybody know what this was?
• Auxiliary fuel tank (note the oil stains on it)
• Two unidentified rectangular tubes on the left and right side just underneath the exhaust tubes pointing outwards
• The landing gear legs appear to have two white stripes (top and bottom of the legs)

Does anybody recognize the version and what the purpose of the rectangular tubes / "aerial" was?

Regards
Roger Gaemperle

[Dénes Bernád]

Also, the fact that the Werknummer is painted on the fin is a rather rare occurrence. Is it decipherable?

[Roger Gaemperle]

You are right! I can't decipher it but maybe the owner of the photo can tell if the number is readable on the original photo.

[edwest]

I don't think those are oil stains on the auxiliary fuel tank but reflections. This indicates some type of plexi-glas or similar nose, perhaps for a camera.




Ed

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi Roger

Since I am uncertain what it is exactly you mean, my comments may be way off the hill...

To me what is underneath the right wing which looks like a tubestructure is part of the strut and is connected both to the top wing and the strut itself. What looks like a rod pointing downwards is as far as can see on every Storch. A close up shows that it is graded and my guess is that it measured the fuel status in the wing. As far as I can judge it is also underneath the left wing.

The Fi 156 carried many different types and sizes of tanks underneath its belly and from the photos I have of the type actually carrying tanks (not that usual it seems), they vary a lot, but none looks like the one on your photo. Looks like Ed is right when he says it looks like its "glazed". No suggestions though...

Cheers
Stig
PS: Nice shot!

[stephen f. polyak]

Nice photo Roger! :-)

Short vertical object ("aerial") beneath the wing is in fact a graduated tube (glass) with slotted metal protective sleeve to provide visual indication of wing-tank fuel quantity to the pilot.

I suspect that the tank-like object beneath the fuselage is, just that, a (fuel) tank or maybe a container. It is unnecessarily big for a camera, and to put a transparent nose immediately aft and below the oil cooler as well as engine is asking for frequent staining; that makes for terrible photos. Moreover, if a camera, the pointing direction would favor downward, not ahead or upward. Why make the entire dome transparent? Could the dome, perhaps removable, be of a different material or painted a different color, or just oil-stained? Thus, the image we see.

Most interesting to me are the two rectangular outward-rearward extensions beneath the cowing. On a typical Fi 156, that is where the engine exhaust discharges. Perhaps these keep the exhaust heat/smoke/flame off the tank.

[edwest]

Good points regarding the camera idea. However, there was a recent discussion of a small ROBOT camera installation in the nose of a Bf 110, which I had not seen before.




Ed

[Roger Gaemperle]

Dear all,

Thanks for your interesting comments! I have to admit that I don't know the Fi 156 that well. With "aerial" I meant what turns out to be the graduated tube. I haven't noticed this on other Fi 156 before but probably just because I haven't studied this aircraft in such detail.

I knew that the rectangular tubes are quite unusual and I think they are indeed related to the container which I still think is a fuel tank. I went through my old lwcollectibles site and found 3 more photos of Fi 156 with fuel tanks:

1st one
2nd one
3rd one

The one in the 1st photo looks very much like the one on the photo at www.battlegroundrelics.com

Cheers,
Roger

[Kutscha]

Originally Posted by stephen f. polyak

Most interesting to me are the two rectangular outward-rearward extensions beneath the cowing. On a typical Fi 156, that is where the engine exhaust discharges. Perhaps these keep the exhaust heat/smoke/flame off the tank.

Stephan you can find those on other Fi156s.

http://www.airmuseumsuk.org/museum/I...6%20Storch.htm

[Sergio Luis dos Santos]

The "squared tubes" looks to me a modified exhaust system. See Roger´s photo 3 and follow the exhaust tube on engine. Also notice the exhaust stain on the fuel tanks.