Vote: Favorite liaison/army co-op aircraft of WWII?

What was your favorite liaison aircraft of WWII?

  • Piper L-4 Grasshopper (J-3 Cub)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Stinson L-5 Sentinel

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Beech UC-43 Traveler (Beech Model 17 Staggerwing)

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Westland Lysander

    Votes: 4 13.8%

  • Fieseler Fi 156 Storch

    Votes: 18 62.1%

  • Polikarpov Po-2 "Mule"

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Kokusai Ki-76 "Stella"

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 3 10.3%
  • Total voters
    29

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There were actually more Po-2/U2 built than Il-2 and Il-10 counted together.
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You know, you could be right, Denniss, but actual figures have never been released for either type, so there's a bit of conjecture as to which one was built in larger numbers. I have read - and this could very well be wrong - that Sturmovik production was in excess of 35,000, where as Po-2/U-2 production was around 33,000. If you can produce accurate figures and their source (important), that would be a great help.
 
Here are a couple of images illustrating my post above:

Tucked away almost anonymously in a dark corner of an old hangar outside of Moscow...



It really IS big up close...



A picture of an AT-6, but with something far more entertaining going on in the background (yes, I know it's a Morane Saulnier, but the lineage is unmistakeable)!



 
Only number I see for the Po-2/U-2 across several sources is 40,000+, which makes it #2 in production count and the most produced biplane.

Total number of Il-2's is 36,183. Combined with Il-10's the total is 42,330 (Jane's, 1989). So there may have been more Sturmoviks overall, but the Po-2/U-2 were considered one model and thus they are listed over the Ilyushins.
 
Great pictures Nuumann! Especially of the Lysander, I had no idea it was so huge. Pic makes it look almost DH Beaver-sized, you'd think that thing would be a flak magnet.
 
Thanks for the production figures ShVak, thought you might chime in on that one. And for the comments about the photos - the Lizzie IS bigger than a Beaver. Makes you really think about those brave men and women sneaking in and out of enemy held territory in them.
 
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Gotta go with the Fiesler Storch. Amazing airplane, and can literally hover with a good head wind.
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A Swedish ex's father had previously served in the Svenska Flygvapnet, and told me how once they saw an (RSwAF) Storch trying to land in an 80 km/h head wind. It simply couldn't, and was basically hovering on the spot. Him and his mates were ordered to help it down, so they ran out, grabbed a surface each and physically pulled it down to the ground!
The pilot was not impressed at all - got out in a huff, didn't say a word nor look at any of them, and headed for the officer's mess...

Don't have a favourite myself, but like the Fi 156, Me 108, and Piper L4.
 
You are comparing some rather different aircraft. The Po 2 is an open cockpit 2/3 seat (?) biplane that was austere in the extreme. The Beech, while a Biplane, was one of the most sophisticated 4/5 seat private/business aircraft of the late 30s. The L-4 Grasshopper was about as cheap a plane as you could make and put two people in and fly with any degree of reliability. Russians may have liked the "cabin" in winter

Some of the others are specialized STOL aircraft (although the L-4 and Po 2 managed rather well due to low wing loading).
 
Me? I have a softspot for the UC-43. Just looks like an elegant tribute to the end of the bi-wing design with a little art deco flair thrown in for good measure. And amazingly fast for a biplane design with such a small engine. Second would have to be the Storch based upon utility alone. They got the name wrong for her though. It should have been called a name related to a flying insect. Sure looks like one.
 

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This is some rough info gathered in the internet...

Piper L-4, Landing distance, 250', as low as 100' in a headwind.

Storch - Take off 213', landing 61'

Lysander, landing 495'

This was from internet articles, it would be interesting to see what the pilot's notes or flight test charts show.
 
Matt308 said:
Me? I have a softspot for the UC-43. Just looks like an elegant tribute to the end of the bi-wing design with a little art deco flair thrown in for good measure. And amazingly fast for a biplane design with such a small engine.
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Indeed. I regard it as the most beautiful aircraft ever, war or peacetime, and one of the best designed for its time. If I ever win the lottery I would walk right past Citations and Learjets over the chance to own a Staggerwing.

I feel similarly about the Cessna 190/195 too. There's just something about them round engines. 8)
 
Yep, the Storch is the granddaddy of all modern STOL aircraft. I've seen modified Aviat Huskys and Zeniths pull off runs like that but the Storch predates them by a good fifty years, at least.
 
Nice photo of the PO-2 Grant!

To my knowledge there are currently only two airworthy examples, one of which flies from the Budaőrs airport not far from where I live! Absolutely beautiful to see in flight - slow, but can turn on a dime.
She shares hangar space with another rare bird too, a Lisunov Li-2, the Russian version of the DC-3, also one of only two airworthy examples worldwide.
 
Thanks Evan, There's a Po-2 at Shuttleworth that used to live in New Zealand at Omaka (of all places!), it was owned by an American chappie who also had a Lockheed 12, but he and the Lockheed have migrated back to the USA. He sold the Poli to Shuttleworth a number of years ago now and it has since been returned to flying condition after an extensive rebuild. I have a photo of it at Shuttleworth just after it arrived from NZ somewhere; I'll post if I find.

I have a piccie or two of some derelict looking Li-2s dotted about the place in Russia; a bit sad to see them in that condition. There's a superficially nice example in Minsk (Belarus) at the museum of the Great Patriotic War there.
 
I took these at the Hahnweide Airshow in Germany. Just something about the Storch that I love. A lil bit of the looks down to the way it just sort of hovers in the air.
 

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Very cool Adler.

Here's the Poli at Shuttleworth in 2003.



...and a MS-505 at an airfield I worked at once.





It used to fly, but its propeller had a big crack in it. When these pics were taken it hadn't flown for about 14 years.
 
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