L-4 Versus Storch

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One of the daftest things I have read involved a Storch. A few days after D Day Churchill was flown over the invasion fleet in a Storch. Knowing how trigger happy the Navy were, and how poor a lot of fighter pilots were at aircraft recognition this has to be one of the worst idea's going
 
There was one British general that regularly used one for his transportation in Normandy. Of course it had RAF markings. I don't know if that reflected his confidence in Allied control of AAA or a very negative opinion of their accuracy.

Patton's men misidentified a British Auster as a Storch and opened up on it. But the general's driver IDed the aircraft and got them to stop shooting. That was fortunate, because the pilot was James Doohan, and there was no one to beam him up.
 
Was it the version with the prototype deflector shields?
 
With the Auster it appears that the British took the Taylorcraft design it was based on and modified it to look as much like a Storch as possible, complte with in-line engine.

But it did not have to look that much like a Storch. Gen Patton's L-4 was attacked by a Spit IX when he was flying back from a meeting with Bradley, Ike, and other generals. The Spit had Polish Squadron markings but no Poles were anywhere near that area.

The Soviets had some Spit IX units, too.
 
I don't see any attempt by Auster to make the Taylorcraft to look like a Stork.

The Auster was usually powered by a inverted 6 cylinder, and the Stork by a inverted V8, but no resemblance past that.
The landing gear the Stork had was it's most noticeable feather, the Auster-Taylorcraft certainly had nothing similar.

Doohan was fortunate he didn't take on one of the Storks armed with a MG in the upper rear window.
 
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