Info wanted on the SM 89 and SM 93

[Robert Hurst]

Hi

I recently came across the photos of two products of the Savoia Marchetti company, and I would be most grateful if anyone can give me any info about these two aircraft.

Regards

Bob

[Aufklarung]

Hi Robert Hurst

Savoia Marchetti SM.89. A twin-engined prototype derived from the SM.84 trimotor, powered by Piaggio P.XII RC35 radials

Savoia Marchetti SM.93. This is another one of Italy's dive-bomber prototypes, this one being somewhat unusal in that the pilot lay prone to prevent blackouts when pulling out of a dive. Tested by the Luftwaffe but abandoned in 1943.

http://www.chrisbuz.dial.pipex.com/ital ... voias.html

Both appear to have been prototypes that never entered production.

Hope this helps you somewhat.

regards
A

[DrG]

The SIAI-Marchetti SM.89 was an attack airplane with a crew of 4 members. The structure was mixed (metal and wood cover; the wings were made of wood). Its armament was of 2 Breda 37mm, 3 Breda-SAFAT 12,7mm and 2 turrets with a Breda-SAFAT 12,7mm (the ventral turret was remote-controlled). The engines (2 Piaggio P.XII RC.35, 1,500 hp) had problems, thus the production version was to use the new Piaggio P.XV (1,650 hp). The prototype (MM.533) was ordered by the contract n° 4291 of 13/04/1941 (cost: 2,400,000 lire); the first flight happened on 28/07/1942 in Vergiate (Varese, Lombardy), then it was tested in that airport untill Oct. 1942, when it was sent to Guidonia, the Experimental Center of the Regia Aeronautica near Rome. The firing tests were made in Furbara. The aircraft was judged promising, but rather heavy for the power of the P.XII engines. For an operational test it was assigned to the 174a Squadriglia in Cerveteri (Rome). The fate of the SM.89 after the armistice (8 Sept. 1943) is unknown.
Photos:

Photo of the prototype during engines tests in Vergiate
Photo the engine nacelle

Source: http://web.archive.org/web/200307061938 ... 9/sm89.htm (the text is Italian, but at the bottom of the page there is the bibliography).

[DrG]

The first flight of this dive-bomber was made on 31 January 1944 (the project was under the control of the Luftwaffe). The pilot was prone, a position that was considered uncomfortable by the tester. The airplane had a good handlig, and an excellent speed and climb rate; the max speed reached during a dive was 900 km/h. The project was then abandoned by the Luftwaffe, and the RSI wasn't allowed to start its production.

[SM79Sparviero]

Data from Storia e Battaglie-March 2001
Sm-93 was projected by eng. Alessandro Marchetti as a dive bomber and torpedo-bomber. It was a cheap aircraft with wood fuselage and wings but the cockpit was heavily armoured, the engine was a 1475 HP Daimler-Benz DB-605 .The gunner had a traditional sitting position but the he pilot had a prone position to minimize the risk of a syncope caused by the high acceleration at the end of a dive.
The aircraft had a maximum speed of 560-580 km/h at 7000 mts, it reached 4000 mts in 5' 40'' , its autonomy was 1400-650 km.
It was 11 mts long, with a wing surface of 31.1 sq. Mts with a 13.9 mts wing.
Its weight ( empty) was 3560 Kg.
It was armed with 1 Mg-151 20 mm gun in the engine and two 12.7 mm SAFAT nachine guns in the wings, and one more SAFAT manned by the gunner.
It could carry under the fuselage 1 820 kg bomb or 1 Withehead torpedo, and up to 4 100 kg boms under the wings.
It had its maiden flight in February 1944 on Vergiate airport under German ensigns , according to the pilot it had a very good flight behaviour without any specifical problems , it reached a maximum dive speed of 900 km/h!
Luftwaffe was not interested to the aircraft and the development was stopped.
Henschel-132 jet dive-bomber with a prone position for the pilot was nearly ready!

[DrG]

I've found some images of the SM.93:





(from this thread: http://pub157.ezboard.com/fluftwaffeexp ... ID=8.topic of the Luftwaffe Experten Message Board).

[Cantankerous]

I've found some images of the SM.93:





(from this thread: http://pub157.ezboard.com/fluftwaffeexp ... ID=8.topic of the Luftwaffe Experten Message Board).

This thread may be nearly two decades old, but I should mention that this link is no longer active and there's an active webpage containing images of the SM 93:
https://www.destinationsjourney.com/his ... tti-sm-93/