Fieseler Fi 103R, WNr. 126
History
The La Coupole museum near Saint-Omer preserves one of the rarest surviving examples of the Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, a desperate and controversial weapon developed by Nazi Germany during the final phase of the Second World War.
The example displayed at La Coupole is particularly significant because very few original Reichenbergs survived the war. The aircraft on display, identified as No. 126, was reportedly captured in Germany at the end of the war and later gifted to the city of Antwerp by American General Clare Hibbs Armstrong, whose anti-aircraft forces had defended Antwerp against V-1 attacks. After decades in storage, the aircraft was restored in the 1990s and placed on permanent loan to La Coupole, where it has been exhibited since 1998.
Its presence at La Coupole is especially fitting. The museum itself occupies a former German bunker complex built to support the V-weapon campaign against Britain. Originally constructed as a launch and storage site for V-2 rockets and associated weapons, the massive underground facility now serves as a memorial and educational center dedicated to the history of German secret weapons, the occupation of northern France, and the origins of modern rocketry.