The Fieseler Fi-156 Storch (Stork) was the best STOL military aircraft of WW2 and in history with an incredible approval rating by not only the Germans but with the victorious Allies as well. 2900 of them were produced and used to great effect as both an Army observation and liason aircraft. Rommel used several in N Africa, Skorzeny's commandos rescued Mussolini in 1943 from Gran Sasso with one, and Hanna Reitsch took over for von Greim to land in the heart of Berlin in April 1945 when the city was under siege. The small craft was advanced in 1936 with slotted ailerons and flaps, was made of lightweight tubular steel and fabric, had a simple 240 hp Argus As 10C-3 engine that gave it a speed of 108 mph and yet the ability to cruise at 35 mph or lower, and it had long-travel gear and tailskid for landing in rough terrain. It could go places no other fixed wing aircraft could go and even rivaled the German helos Fa-223 and Fl-282 with access to mountain terrain or restricted length tight spots. It was observed that Hanna Reitsch with a small headwind could make the Storch hover!!! An amazing aircraft, it continued long after WW2 in production in Czechoslovakia and France. Other WW2 copies in Japan and Russia were inferior as was the British Lysander and the US L-4. A Fi-256 stretched version was made as 4-passenger and air ambulance in limited quantity. Most importantly, the Storch COULD have taken Hitler out of Berlin to the north for escape to Norway, then Argentina... OR south to the Alpine Redoubt if that area had been set up for continued resistance.