Savoia-Marchetti SM.76
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The Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 ''Marsupiale'' ( Italian: marsupial) was an Italian passenger and military transport aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. It was a low-wing, trimotor monoplane of mixed metal and wood construction with a retractable
tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynami ...
. It was the last of a line of transport aeroplanes that Alessandro Marchetti began designing in the early 1930s. The SM.75 was fast, robust, capable of long-range flight and could carry up to 24 passengers for 1,000 miles.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, p. 207.


Development


SM.75 and SM.75''bis''

The SM.75 was designed in response to an enquiry from the Italian airline Ala Littoria, which was seeking a modern, middle-to-long-range
airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
and cargo aircraft as a replacement for its
Savoia-Marchetti S.73 The Savoia-Marchetti S.73 was an Italian three-engine airliner that flew in the 1930s and early 1940s. The aircraft entered service in March 1935 with a production run of 48 aircraft. Four were exported to Belgium for SABENA, while seven others ...
aircraft. Savoia-Marchetti chief designer Alessandro Marchetti (1884–1966) retained the general configuration of the S.73 but introduced retractable main landing gear to reduce
aerodynamic drag In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fl ...
. The SM.75s airframe consisted of a steel-tube frame with fabric and
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
covering, and its control surfaces were plywood-covered. The SM.75 had a four-man crew, and its cabin was built to accommodate up to 25 passengers. Its short take-off run of 337 metres (1,105 feet) and shorter landing distance of meant that it could operate from short runways on secondary airfields.Rosselli, p. 20. The SM.75 was powered by three Alfa Romeo 126 RC.34 radial engines. Eleven aircraft fitted with three Alfa Romeo 126 RC.18 14-cylinder engines were designated SM.75''bis''. The ''
Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
'' (Italian Royal Air Force) was interested in the SM.75, resulting in the development of a militarized version. This had much smaller cabin windows and was reinforced for a dorsal gun turret, as well as being equipped with a retractable bomb aimer's cupola, and a bomb bay. It was powered by three Alfa Romeo 128 RC.21 engines and had a greater cargo capacity than the SM.75, and entered military service as the
Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 The Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 ''Marsupiale'' was an Italian bomber and transport aircraft of World War II. It was a Cantilever#Aircraft, cantilever, mid-wing monoplane trimotor with a retractable, Conventional landing gear, tailwheel undercarriage. ...
.


SM.76

The Italian airline LATI received its first SM.75 in 1939. The aircraft was redesignated as the SM.76 in 1940.


SM.87

In 1939, a
floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
version of the SM.75 was built as the SM.87, powered by three
Fiat A.80 The Fiat A.80 was an 18-cylinder, twin-row, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine produced during World War II. Rated at 1,000 hp (745 kW), it was a more powerful development of the 14-cylinder Fiat A.74. Variants ;Fiat A.80 R.C.20:With ...
engines. It could reach a speed of , had a ceiling of , and a range of . With a crew of four, it could accommodate 24 passengers. Four were built.


SM.90

The SM.90 was a version of the SM.75 fitted with more powerful Alfa Romeo 135 R.C.32 engines. It had a longer fuselage than the SM.75. Only one was built.


SM.75GA

The SM.75 GA (for ''Grande Autonomia'', meaning "Long Range") was a modification of the SM.75 powered by three Alfa Romeo 128 engines and fitted with a powerful radio and auxiliary fuel tanks to boost the aircraft's range to with a load. With a four- or five-man crew and a load, the SM.75 GA had a range of at while flying at altitudes between .


Operational history


Italian commercial service

The SM.75 first flew in November 1937 from Novara, in Piedmont. It entered commercial service with Ala Littoria in 1938 and with LATI in 1939, and was employed on services both within Europe and to South America, as well as on the Rome- Addis Ababa route established after the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) following the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...
. The SM.75 proved capable of carrying a crew of four and 17 passengers and their baggage a distance of at per hour at , and it established a number of world records for speed-over-distance-with-payload and closed-circuit distance. One modified SM.75 set a closed-circuit endurance record of in August 1, 1939, beating the then standing British record of set with a
Vickers Wellesley The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of We ...
late in 1938. After Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, civil SM.75s continued to perform supply operations to Italian overseas territories, which dwindled as the war progressed. They also continued to operate to South America until December 1941, when Italy declared war on the United States.


Italian military service

After Italy entered World War II in June 1940, the ''Regia Aeronautica'' needed aircraft to maintain contact with Italian East Africa, which was surrounded by British-controlled territories. SM.75s were militarized with the installation of a Breda-SAFAT machine gun mounted in a Caproni-Lanciani gun turret along with a fifth crew member for it, and new SM.75s were modified to carry up to 24 troops over long distances.


Special missions

There were several notable missions flown mainly for propaganda purposes.


=Leaflet mission to Asmara

= In January 1942, the commander-in-chief of the ''Regia Aeronautica'', General Rino Corso Fougier, began planning a Rome-to-Tokyo flight. He consulted with pilots with recent experience in long-range flights, and chose the SM.75, being better suited than either the SM.82 or the
Savoia-Marchetti SM.83 The Savoia-Marchetti SM.83 was an Italian civil airliner of the 1930s. It was a civilian version of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber. Design and development It was a monoplane, with retractable undercarriage, and a slim fuselage. Though the c ...
because of its superior endurance. An SM.75 was selected for the flight and was modified into the first long-range SM.75 GA. The first mission of the SM.75 GA was to drop propaganda leaflets saying "Italian colonists, Rome is not forgetting you. We shall come back!" over Italian East Africa, which had been lost to the British between 1940 and 1941. The five-man crew flew left Rome at 17:30 hours on 7 May 1942, on their initial leg. Although they intended to fly at , bad weather forced them up to . After 10 hours and 20 minutes, they arrived over
Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...
(
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
) and released leaflets, but instead of continuing on to
Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
in Italian Libya as planned, they returned to Rome. The flight took 28 hours. Two days after arriving in Rome, the SM.75GA suffered a simultaneous failure of all three engines during a ferry flight from Rome to Guidonia Montecelio. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot lost a leg, while his crew escaped injury.


=Rome-to-Tokyo flight

= After the first SM.75 GA was lost, a second SM.75 was modified to SM.75 GA standard for the Rome-to-Tokyo flight. Ready on 9 June 1942, it was designated the SM.75 GA RT (for "Rome-Tokyo"). Its pilot was in charge of the operation, which in addition to providing Italy with much-needed propaganda, would carry new communications codes for Japan and their Axis partners as the existing codes had been compromised by the British. The extreme distance, much of it over the Soviet Union, with which Italy was at war, made the flight especially challenging. Starting from Guidonia Montecelio on 29 June 1942, the SM.75 GA RT landed later that day at Zaporizhzhia, away in occupied Ukraine, the closest airfield to Japanese held territory. On 30 June 1942, the overloaded SM.75 GA RT made the difficult takeoff from the grassy runway at Zaporizhzhia, with / of fuel. Its crew were under orders to burn the aircraft and its documents if forced down in enemy-held territory to avoid any incriminating documents becoming an embarrassment to the Japanese, who were not then at war with the Soviet Union. Operating under radio silence, they evaded Soviet anti-aircraft fire, a Soviet fighter (probably a
Yakovlev Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 (russian: Яковлев Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978 ...
), and bad weather as they flew over the north coast of the
Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
, skirted Lake Balkhash and the Tarbagatai Mountains before continuing over the Gobi. Maps of Soviet positions were inaccurate, and they had to climb to to avoid interception, consuming their oxygen supply faster than planned. A sandstorm was also encountered over Mongolia. With fuel running low, they landed at Pao Tow Chien in Japanese-occupied Inner Mongolia on 1 July 1942, east of Zaporizhzhia. The aircraft was repainted with Japanese roundels so that it would be safe in Japanese airspace, took an interpreter aboard, and then flew the final to Tokyo. The SM.75 GA RT departed Tokyo on its return journey on 16 July 1942. Arriving at Pao Tow Chien, its Japanese markings were removed and replaced with Italian ones. It took off on 18 July 1942 from Pao Tow Chien, retraced its route, and, after 29 hours and 25 minutes in the air and having covered , it landed at
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
in the Ukraine before continuing on to Guidonia Montecelio. The Italians announced this achievement despite the Japanese government's reluctance for diplomatic reasons, which harmed relations between the two countries and the Italians made no attempt to repeat the flight.


=Bombing mission to Abyssinia

= Two SM.75 GA aircraft bombed American bombers at an airbase in Gura in Abyssinia, in 1943, the only bombing mission made by SM.75s. The two S.75 GAs were modified with "Jozza" bomb sights and were fitted to carry of bombs and to reach the objective, over away, of fuel. Each aircraft had a take-off weight of . Experienced crews were selected and they started on 23 May 1943 from Rhodes, the easternmost ''Regia Aeronautica'' base at the time. The SM.75 GA's engines were optimized for economy rather than power making the take off difficult with the heavy load. Initially flying at low altitude, they climbed to but having burned too much fuel one diverted to bomb Port Sudan instead. The second aircraft continued alone, arriving over Gura airbase with was found to be heavily defended despite being well behind the front lines. All but one of the bombs were successfully dropped before returning to Rhodes the next morning after having covered in 24 hours and 15 minutes.Lembo, Daniele, ''gli ultimi voli sull'impero'', Aerei nella storia n.23, April–May 2002.


Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force

After Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, some SM.75s entered service with the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, which fought on the Allied side for the remainder of World War II. The few SM.75s that survived the war and remained in service until 1949.


Hungary

Italy exported five SM.75 aircraft to Hungary for service with the Hungarian airline
MALERT MALÉRT (''Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T.'') was a Hungarian airline, founded on November 19, 1922. The airline merged with Aeroflot in 1944-46 into Maszovlet (''Magyar-Szovjet Légiforgalmi Társaság'') a forerunner of MALÉV Hungarian Airlines. ...
. After Hungary entered World War II, these aircraft were pressed into service with the Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő (MKHL), Hungarian Air Force.


1941 crash incident

In the afternoon of 12 April 1941 during the short conflict between Hungary and Yugoslavia, four SM.75s with paratroopers, departed
Veszprém Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county (comitatus or 'megye') of ...
, however, the leading aircraft crashed killing 23 Hungarians, including 19 paratroopers. It was the heaviest loss in the war against Yugoslavia.Neulen 2000, p. 123.Neulen 2000, p. 122.


Germany

After Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, Germany seized some SM.75s which served with the '' Luftwaffe''.


Variants

;SM.75 :Civilian airliner and cargo aircraft; some later militarized for ''Regia Aeronatica'' use as cargo aircraft and troop transports ;SM.75''bis'' :Up-engined version of SM.75 civilian airliner ;SM.75 GA :Long-range version of SM.75 ;SM.76 :1940 redesignation of aircraft delivered to the Italian LATI airline ;SM.87 :Floatplane version of SM.75 ;SM.90 :Re-engined version of SM.75 with longer fuselage


Operators


Military operators

; * '' Luftwaffe'' operated captured former ''Regia Aeronautica'' aircraft. ; * Royal Hungarian Air Force operated five former civilian MALERT airlines aircraft. ; * ''
Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
'' operated 32 former civilian aircraft. * Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force ; * Italian Air Force operated some Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 until 1949.


Civil operators

; * '' Ala Littoria'' had 34 aircraft in operation by June 1940. ; *
MALERT MALÉRT (''Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T.'') was a Hungarian airline, founded on November 19, 1922. The airline merged with Aeroflot in 1944-46 into Maszovlet (''Magyar-Szovjet Légiforgalmi Társaság'') a forerunner of MALÉV Hungarian Airlines. ...
bought five aircraft in Italy.


Specifications (SM.75 with Alfa Romeo engines)


Notes


Bibliography

* Angelucci, Enzo and Paolo Matricardi. ''World Aircraft: World War II, Volume I'' (Sampson Low Guides). Maidenhead, UK: Sampson Low, 1978. . * Lembo, Daniele, gli ultimi voli sull'impero, Aerei nella storia n.23, April–May 2002. * Neulen, Hans Werner. ''In The Skies Of Europe: Air Forces Allied To The Luftwaffe 1939-1945.'' Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 2000. . * Pellegrino, Adalberto, ''Il raid segreto Roma-Tokyo'', Storia militare n.45, June 1997. * Rosselli, Alberto. "In the Summer of 1942, a Savoia-Marchetti Cargo Plane Made a Secret Flight to Japan." ''Aviation History''. January 2004. * Nakazawa, Akinori and Strippoli, Roberta, '1942-43: Italiani e Giapponesi in volo per rafforzare l'Asse Roma-Tokyo', Rivista Storica magazine Coop Giornalisti Storici, Rome, n.7/94, p. 48-53. {{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation SM.075 1930s Italian airliners 1930s Italian military transport aircraft Trimotors Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1937