Italians need bombers !!! we want S.M.79

[fabrika6]

Performances and Caracteristics of Savoia Marchetti SM-79-I "Sparviero"

 

Shortly after sundown in the evening of 15th August 1940 there appeared low over the waters of Alexandria harbour two formations of  S.M.79 Sparviero torpedo-bombers, their target British warships anchored in the port. No damage, however, resulted from this raid, the torpedoes fouling the shallow mudbanks in the harbour.
Unsuccessful though this attak proved to be, it was significant as being the first action in W.W.2 by these Italian torpedo-bombers  extremely efficent aircraft and considered by many as among the most succesful land based torpedo-bombers of the war. To the Italian nation the Sparviero was as the Spitfire was to the British, or the Mustang to America. Its name was to become associated with many of Italy’s most honoured wartime pilots, studmuffingioni, Marini, Buscaglia, Di Bella, Cagna, Aramu and Aichner, while the achievements of Sparviero-equipped squadrons are almost legendary.

Engines N°3 Alfa romeo 126 RC34
Wing Span       m 21.20
Lenght          m 15.625
Height         m 4.1
Wing surface      m2 61.7
Empty Weight      Kg 6650
Max Take off Weight   Kg 12500
Max Power at Take off   CV 2700
Wing load   Kg/m2    217
Weight/power ratio Kg/CV 4.9
Take off run      m 650
Total fuel capacity, 8055 liters.

Armament:
One fixed and two flexible 12.7-mm  BREDA SAFAT machine gun.
one flexible 7.7 LEWIS machine gun.
Internal bomb load:
two 1,100 lb , five 550 lb, or twelve 220 lb bombs.
As a torpedo bomber one or two 450 mm torpedos.

Max speed at:        Sea Level = 223 mph  at  2060 rpm
3280 ft.    = 227 mph  at  2100 rpm
6560 ft.    = 238 mph  at  2170 rpm
9840 ft.    = 251 mph  at  2260 rpm
13120 ft.    = 267 mph  at  2395 rpm
16400 ft.    = 261 mph  at  2320 rpm
19680 ft.    = 252 mph  at  2240 rpm

Cruising speed at:  9840 ft.    = 227 mph  at  2070 rpm
13120 ft.    = 230 mph  at  2070 rpm
16400 ft.    = 231 mph  at  2070 rpm
19680 ft.    = 232 mph  at  2070 rpm

Climb to:                3280 ft.    =   3 min.   8 sec.
6560 ft.    =   5 min.  58 sec.
9840 ft.    =   9 min.  15 sec.
13120 ft.    =  13 min.  15 sec.
16400 ft.    =  19 min.  45 sec.
18045 ft.    =  24 min.  21 sec.

Service ceiling:    21325 ft.
Max range : (at 16400ft. 211 mph)  2050 miles
Stalling speed :    80 mph


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[gatt]

I'm sure that when the Navy will roll out of HTC factory we'll need good torpedo bombers.
The SM79 was probably one of the best of the whole war with an excellent k/d ratio. Even the Luftwaffe used the italian torpedo Whitehead.
Bring on the "Gobbo Maledetto" (Damned Hunchback) Isnt she lovely? Ehm ...  

 

[Karnak]

Yup.  I agree.  Thats the three engined Italian job that I've been mentioning.

Bring it in!!!!  

Sisu
-Karnak

[Vermillion]

I was watching the History channel the other night, and they were doing a show on the early battles in the Mediterranean (yes my spelling stinks).

They had a film clip, in color no less (very rare especially for the early 40's, of a SM79 making a torpedo run on a British Cruiser of some sort, taken from the Cruiser itself. Beautiful footage !!

The SM79 was at about 100ft off the waves, you see a splash below it, and then a split second later it shoots directly over the stern of the ship and breaking hard away from the ship, giving you a great forward,  then side, and about a 80% planform view of the SM79 as it passes over.

Evidently the pilot missed though.

Definitely a piece of film I had never seen before.

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"

[leonid]

SM-79, C.42, Gladiator, mountainous terrain, and you have Greece, '40!!!

 


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leonid, Komandir
5 GIAP VVS-KA, Knights

"Our cause is just.  The enemy will be crushed.  Victory will be ours."

[gatt]

Verm,
I'll try to scan and post a b/w shot of a "Sparviero" breakin off over an english warship seconds after the torpedo drop. It was maybe a couple of hundreds feets high .... should have been a really hair-rising experience for both crews ...

[Downtown]

I had a history teacher who joined the coast guard to avoid combat during WWII.  Little did he know that the Coasties manned picket ships for the big groups.

Anyhow during a battle a Japanese plane came very low over his ship.  As he dove out of the path of the aircraft the propellor removed his hand just above the wrist.

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"Downtown" Lincoln Brown.
    lkbrown1@tir.com    
 http://www.tir.com/~lkbrown1
Wrecking Crews "Drag and Die Guy"
Hals und beinbruch!

[LLv34_Snefens]

I was looking into heavy bombers from different nations last night and for the italians I came up with the Piaggio P.108.

Four engined and 163 bulit of the bomber version (P.108B) as far as I could tell. It would be a nice plane to have.

Hmm I don't have a scanner let me see what I can find on the net. Ahh here http://canopus.lpi.msk.su/~watson/piaggio.p108.html

Interesting features was its rearward firing guns positioned at the outer engines and remotely controlled.

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"Head-ons are for pilots that don't know what their next move should be"

Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34

[juzz]

What was the performance of the later versions of SM.79? Particularly those with the Alfa Romeo 135 RC.32 engines of 1350hp.  

[Maxopti1]

 

Originally posted by juzz:
What was the performance of the later versions of SM.79? Particularly those with the Alfa Romeo 135 RC.32 engines of 1350hp.  

If Pyro decides to work S.M.79 "Sparviero", I could furnish all the information concern to the motor.
I could not publish her because protected from copyright, but, I am authorized to use the information for the programming of the aircrafts.

 
 


Max


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When you are flown, there is an only certainty:
In a way or in the other, to earth you will return.

[gatt]

Just to let you know how tuff those torpedo/bomber guys were, here is Major Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia's  scoreboard:

- 29 combat mission
- 24 torpedoes dropped

Ships sunk:
- 2 heavy cruisers
- 2 medium cruisers
- 6 freighters

Ships damaged:
- 2 warships
- 1 carrier
- 6 cruisers
- 3 destroyers
- 3 freighters