Fly Past

(Rick Simeone) #1
November 2018 FLYPAST 67

Spotlight
history

between Crete and Derna, Libya by
Curtiss Kittyhawks of 250 Squadron
and Beaufighters of 252 Squadron.
He spotted survivors in the sea 43
miles (70km) north of Derna and
is reported to have dropped his life-
jacket to them, after which nothing
more of him was seen or heard.
More than 170 Germans died,
but 47 were rescued and for what
he did, Kroseberg was promoted
posthumously to major and was
awarded the Ritterkreuz
the following month.
However, the most well-known
action involving a Storch was
Operation Eiche (Oak) – the rescue
of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
in the summer of 1943. When
Mussolini was replaced after a vote
of no confidence by the Italian

government, and then arrested on
July 25, 1943 he was eventually
imprisoned at the Hotel Campo
Imperatore in the Gran Sasso region
of Italy’s Apennine mountains. But
Hitler ordered Mussolini’s rescue,
the physical act of which was
planned by Maj Otto-Harald Mors,
commander of the Fallschirmjäger
Lehr Bataillon. Ten DFS 230

mph (51km/h) was its minimum speed in the air
3232

trained to be a pilot between the
wars. In June 1941 he was appointed
Staffelkapitän of 1. Wüstennotstaffel
(1 Desert Rescue Squadron) in
North Africa. Responsible for
finding downed aircrew, on May
12, 1942 he took off in Fieseler Fi
156C-3/trop WkNr 5591 coded
SF+RL to locate survivors of nine
Ju 52s and a Bf 110 shot down

Another little known Storch role
was anti-submarine operations.
It is believed that 1. Staffel/
Küstenfliegergruppe 706 received
three C-2s at Aalborg, Denmark, in
October 1940 to be used for anti-
sub and coastal patrols. Each aircraft
was able to carry three 50kg bombs
but within a month, the unit’s CO,
Obst Axel von Blessing, wrote that
their use was limited and other
aircraft, such as the He 115, were
much better suited. No successes or
losses were recorded and the three
aircraft were still reported as being
with 1./706 a year later, after which
nothing is known regarding their
role or subsequent fate.
The first of very few Storch pilots
to receive the Ritterkreuz was Hptm
Heinz-Gustav Kroseberg. Born in
1899, he served in the army as an
engineer in World War One and


Left
France employed the
Storch in the latter stages
of World War Two, and
into the post-war period,
manufacturing the type
as the Morane-Saulnier
‘Criquet’ (Cricket). Here,
French-operated examples
fl y in formation. MALCOLM V
LOWE COLLECTION

Below left
A colder climate for the
Fi 156 on the Russian
Front. Note it has skis, a
yellow fuselage band and
all markings have been
painted over.

Below
The Storch was highly
regarded as a light
communications and
‘hack’ aircraft. This
example, CK+KF, fl ew
in support of the
Luftwaffe’s night fi ghter
force and carried the
famous emblem of this
organisation on its engine
cowling. MALCOLM V LOWE
COLLECTION
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