UP FOR AUCTION IS A WWII German Fieseler Fi 156 Storch - Scout Plane Diecast 1:72.

THIS DIECAST COLLECTABLE REPLICA IS IN "LIKE NEW" CONDITION. PLEASE REVIEW ALL OF THE PHOTOS TO APPRECIATE THE CONDITION OF THIS RATHER RARE COLLECTABLE WWII AIRCRAFT.

The Luftwaffe used the Fi 156 Storch to land German troops behind Belgian lines early in the war to great effect. The aircraft gained its nickname Storch (Stork) from another of its features designed to support operations close to the frontlines; gear legs with more than 15 inches of travel. This ungainly-looking undercarriage, with its associated shock absorption system, meant that the airplane could handle rough landing grounds with relative ease, but the manner in which the gear dangled beneath the fuselage bore a resemblance to a stork in flight, hence the comparison. 

During September 1943, the Storch played a pivotal role in Operation Eiche, the rescue of deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a boulder-strewn mountain-top near the Gran Sasso. On 26 April 1945, a Storch was one of the last aircraft to land on the improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten near the Brandenburg Gate during the Battle of Berlin.