On September 2nd 1935, the aircraft with modified engine was tested again, with a flight speed of 430 km/h, and Alitalia began to use this aircraft to fly regularly from London to Melbourne, Australia. At that time, it was a civil airliner with advanced range and speed in the world civil aircraft. Although the aircraft is ostensibly designed for the purpose of civil aircraft, the possibility of becoming a bomber with a little modification has actually been considered. When the plane completed its test flight, it happened that Italy was preparing to launch a war of aggression against Ethiopia. Italy was preparing for a large-scale military expansion, and the potential military value of the aircraft was discovered by the Italian military. Immediately, savoia Marchetti Aircraft Company was asked to improve the production of a reconnaissance bomber on the basis of civilian use.
1936 10, the military model S.M.79 began to be delivered to the Italian Air Force, officially named S.M.79-I Sparviero(Sparrowhawk. Sparrowhawk is a unique bird of prey in Mediterranean coastal countries, preying on other birds flying in the air. It flies fast and moves accurately. Perhaps the Italian military hoped that the power of S.M.79 was similar to that of "Sparrow Eagle" when naming it.
S.M.79-I, which meets the requirements of military type, has the following characteristics: the plane adopts a five-person crew, namely pilot, co-pilot, radio, random engineer and pilot. The radio operator is located behind the pilot and is also responsible for operating the12.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine gun fired from the upper part of the aircraft. In order to accommodate this machine gun and a 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT forward-fired machine gun, a convex part with an open rear part was designed at the upper part of the fuselage behind the cockpit. The forward-fired machine gun is installed in the convex part, and the muzzle fire line passes through the rotating area of the nose propeller, and the propeller is no longer equipped with a synchronous shooting device. The rear-fired machine gun is supported backwards at the opening part, and the convex part can protect the shooter from the impact of airflow. This bump added a bump to the front upper part of the plane, so the British pilot gave it a vivid nickname "damn hunchback" shortly after fighting with the British pilot. The random engineer is located in the middle of the fuselage and is responsible for operating a 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine gun, which can be fired from the hatch on the side of the fuselage. The navigator is also responsible for the task of being a bomber and a machine gun shooter with abdominal rear-fire because the nose is different from the common double-engine bomber and an engine is installed, so it is impossible to arrange transparent nose observation windows, bombing sights, bomber seats and so on. Only a small pod with a transparent window in front is designed in the abdomen, and a bombing sight, an automatic camera, a pilot's seat and flight control equipment are installed in the middle (taking over the pilot's control of the aircraft when approaching the target for accurate aiming). When the plane encounters an enemy plane, the bomber is also responsible for controlling the one installed behind the pod. The driver's and co-pilot's seats are side by side, and the back is protected by 9.5 mm thick armor plate. The bomb bay is in the middle of the fuselage, and the bomb hangs vertically in the bomb bay in a special way. The bomb carrying scheme is either two 500KG bombs and five 250KG bombs, 12 100KG bombs. If necessary, two 500KG bombs can be hung under the wing. The aircraft has basically maintained the same speed and range as the civilian type, and it is also an advanced bomber in 1936.
1at the end of 936, Italy couldn't wait to send S.M.79-I to fight in the foreign aid aviation corps sent by Italy to the Spanish rebels. The aircraft is mainly stationed in Balearic Island in the Mediterranean Sea, and is responsible for attacking * * * and military ships along the Mediterranean coast and nearby waters.
1in March, 938, he also participated in the action of German and Italian bombing forces supporting the rebels to attack Barcelona, and carried out a large-scale bombing of Barcelona for three days, which killed more than 2,400 people and seriously hit the morale of the army. In the battle, S.M.79-I's main opponents are I- 15 and I- 16 fighters aided by the Soviet Union, and S.M.79' s flight speed is basically the same. Coupled with the difference in the number of aircraft and fighter escort, the war damage rate of S.M.79-I is low. When the maximum number of equipment reaches 100, all losses are as follows: 5 were shot down by * * * and military aircraft, and 4 were lost in ground accidents. An important reason for the failure of the Spanish civil war is that the rebels have air superiority. Although the Spanish civil war had the advantage of maritime power, the maritime traffic lines were cut off, which made it impossible for the Soviet Union and France to supplement their assistance at sea. In this regard, S.M.79-I has played an important role.
The successful use of S.M.79-I in Spain made the Italian military mistakenly think that Italy had advanced bombers that could compete with any enemy in the future, thus relaxing the research and development of subsequent models, resulting in the lack of advanced bombers to replace S.M.79-I in future wars in Italy. At the same time, the performance of this machine has also aroused the interest of some countries in the world and started to import this machine. In order to earn foreign exchange and dilute production costs, the Italian government allowed this kind of aircraft to be exported, so that the air forces of some countries in the world have also equipped this kind of aircraft.
1938, Yugoslavia imported 45 S.M.79-I aircraft, called S.M.79-K, which were used by the pro-German Croatian Air Force. In order to adapt to the habit of using twin-engine aircraft in other countries, Serviya-marchetti Aircraft Company also improved and designed a twin-engine export model named S.M.79-B. The Brazilian Air Force purchased three engines, two Alfa Romeo 128 RC. 18 engines (single 930 HP) with a speed of 418. Two Fiat a. 80 RC. 108 The Romanian Air Force purchased 48 aircraft, of which the first 24 were equipped with two Gnome-Rhone Mistral (northwest wind) 14K engines (single machine 1000hp) and the last 24 were equipped with the Junkers watch Jumo21/KLOC-. Da inverted "V" liquid-cooled engine (single machine 165438) Romania also produced 16 aircraft in the brasov factory of Romanian Aircraft Company. According to the dual-engine export model, the nose engine was cancelled, and the normal layout of bombers in the transparent nose was restored. S.M.79-JR, 194 1 Cong 1944 of Romanian Air Force participated in the war against the Soviet Union. In view of the fact that the Italian army's combat area is concentrated in the Mediterranean region, controlling the maritime air superiority in the Mediterranean is the key to winning.
At the end of 1937, the Italian air force asked Seville marchetti Aircraft Company to improve S.M.79-I so that it could not only bomb horizontally, but also torpedo ships at sea. The improvement is mainly to replace the engine with higher horsepower to improve the speed and install the torpedo suspension device. The improved aircraft is called S.M.79-II. ..
Nan M.79-II has used three engines successively: piaggio R.xirc.40 (1000 HP); Fiat a.80rc.41(1030hp); Alfa Romeo 135 RC. 32( 1350 HP). With the increase of engine power, the maximum speed of the aircraft also increases. From 1937 to 1938, the improved aircraft set a number of speed records for three aircraft, and finally reached 5 1 4 km/h/h. The improved aircraft, named S.M.79-II, can carry two 450mm torpedoes when carrying out torpedo bombing missions (but in actual combat, most of them
1939 10 month, S.M.79-II began to deliver. On June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France. At that time, the Italian Air Force had more than 1000 bombers, including S.M. 79 * * 6 12, most of which were S.M.79-II. Deployed in North Africa, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, participating in the military operations of the Italian army in these areas. On June 1 1, the Italian army bombed malta island with S.M.79 for the first time. On August 15, five S.M.79 took off from Libya and bombed Alishan Port. In September, British positions and warehouses in Egypt were bombed several times on a small scale. Generally speaking, the Italian Air Force is passive, and there is nothing worth mentioning. The Italian army was defeated by the British and had to ask for German support.
194 1 at the beginning of the year, Rommel led the African legion in landing operation in north africa, and it was not until March that the air superiority in North Africa was handed over to the German-Italian air force. 1At the end of 940, the German Air Force 10 Army entered Sicily. 194 1 In June, Italian air force bombers bombed malta island 58 times with German planes, which caused serious losses to British troops. In June, due to the British attack on bloody sands, the German Air Force moved to North Africa, leaving only the Italian Air Force Tsushima Island to attack. As soon as the Germans left, the Italian Air Force did nothing. The 10 aviation squadron of the British army in the Falklands has dealt a fruitful blow to the German-Italian maritime transport line, causing serious losses to the military supplies that Germany intends to supply to North Africa. 165438+ 10 month alone, Germany and Italy lost 54,990 tons of fully loaded carriers, accounting for 44% of the carriers bound for Africa. Germany had to deploy the Ace 2nd Air Force from the Soviet-German front, stationed in the Mediterranean region, and carried out large-scale bombing in Tsushima Island, and the situation changed. After these battles, it is proved that the Italian military force is vulnerable and the Italian air force aircraft are out of date. S.M.79 was originally considered as the most advanced aircraft by the Italian military, but the operational practice proved that it lacked self-defense firepower and had a small bomb load, so it was impossible to continue to be the main force of Italian bombers.
Starting from 1940, the Italian Air Force gradually changed the S.M.79 bombing squadron into a shore-based torpedo bomber squadron. By the end of 194 1, five squadrons had completed the training and reloading. In addition, the performance of S.M.84 torpedo bomber is unreliable and is not welcomed by Italian pilots. There are more and more squadrons of S.M.79 torpedo bombers, which eventually became the main model of Italian torpedo bombers and played some roles in attacking allied ships in the Mediterranean.
There are two famous operations:1942 June11. Two British fleets set out from Gibraltar and Alishan Port respectively to deliver goods to malta island. The six aircraft carriers departing from the west are the Hundred Eyes Eagle and Giant, the battleship Malaya, the cruiser Cairo and Liverpool, and the destroyer 16. 14, in the waters near Sardinia, Italian S.M.79 and a small amount of Z. 1007bis Alcione (also a three-engine bomber) violently torpedoed the fleet, a transport ship was sunk, and the "Liverpool" was injured and could not run. On June 5438+05, when the fleet approached the south of Pantronia Island, the S.M.79 squadron on the island, together with two Italian cruisers and several destroyers, attacked the fleet again, sinking the destroyer Bedouin and three transport ships, and finally only two transport ships arrived in malta island. The 1 1 transport ship departing from Egypt lacks the escort of battleships and aircraft carriers. /kloc-on the morning of 0/4, when it arrived in the south of Crete, it was continuously torpedoed by S.M.79 fleet./kloc-on the morning of 0/5, three destroyers and two transport ships were sunk, and the cruiser "Hermion" was sunk by an Italian submarine, so the fleet with heavy losses had to return to its starting point.
August 1942, 1 1, British navy battleships Nelson and Rodney, aircraft carriers Eagle, Fearless and Fury, 7 cruisers and 32 destroyers escorted 14 transport ship set out from Algeria. Shortly after departure, the aircraft carrier Eagle was sunk by a submarine, but all the aircraft were released to malta island before sinking. The next day, the fleet was attacked by an Italian torpedo plane The "Fearless" aircraft carrier was injured, a transport ship and a destroyer were sunk, and 39 enemy planes were shot down by fighter planes and fleet anti-aircraft fire on the aircraft carrier. 12 night, Italian torpedo boats, submarines and torpedo planes launched a large-scale attack. On the morning of the same day, seven transport ships and cruisers "Cairo" and "Manchester" were sunk, and two cruisers and three transport ships including the American oil tanker "Ohio" loaded with important materials were injured. The surviving ships continued to March bravely towards malta island, and the Ohio was also pulled forward. 13, the air raid continued, Ohio and another transport ship were hit and lost navigation ability. 13 night, only three transport ships arrived in malta island. On June 5438+05, the injured Ohio and another transport ship, Brisbane Star, were dragged into the port. There are only five 15 transport ships to transport materials to malta island.
1942, 165438+ 10. In October, the US military carried out the "Torch" plan and landed in Tunisia. S.M.79 was gradually hit hard because it had no air superiority when attacking allied ships. According to statistics, 1942, every 8 torpedoes dropped, 1 plane was lost. By 1943, it will reach an amazing loss ratio of 1 torpedo 2.5, and there will be no great achievements at all.
1June, 943, Italy concentrated the remaining S.M.79 in Pisa and Siena to prepare for the allied landing in Sicily or other places. On July 10, after the attack began, only the air ferry teams of the 7th and 8th British Army were used by S.M.79 because of air defense negligence, and the aircraft carrier "Unyielding" was injured. In the face of the powerful allied air force, the air resistance of the Axis countries basically stopped during the day. Allied planes attacked an air base in Italy, which may be used to support Sicily, and S.M.79 suffered losses on the ground. At the end of the campaign, there was little left.
1September 3, 943, Italy surrendered to the allied forces. Part of the remaining S.M.79 flew to the south controlled by the Allies, which was used by the new Italian United Air Force, and was changed to contact planes and transport planes before the end of the war. The other part flew to the German-controlled north and was used by the Italian fascist "Republic of Salo" Air Force. Seville-marchetti Aircraft Company's production line in Novana continues to produce S.M.79 for "Salo * * * and China". Because it can only be used as a torpedo bomber, the plane has been modified. The bomb pod in the belly was cancelled, the forward-fired machine gun in "Humpback" was changed to 20mm cannon, the exhaust manifold was lengthened, the advanced radio equipment was called S.M.79-III, and the original S.M.79-II was also modified.
March 1944, 10, and S.M.79-III participated in the attack on American ships near the landing point of American troops in anzio. On March 13, April 10, and June 4, they harassed allied ships at a long distance in the port of Gibraltar, and then moved to the eastern Mediterranean. The last battle was 1945 10, which sank a 5,000-ton steamboat in the Adriatic Sea on October 5th.
On April 25th, the last squadron of 1945, S.M.79 was dissolved. After the war, the remaining S.M.79 was changed to civilian use, and there were S.M.79-C VIP (VIP type) one after another; B.M.83( 10 passenger plane); B.M.83T(6-seat mail/passenger plane); S.M.79-T (remote type) was used until the early 1950s. The total output of S.M.79 series is 65,438+0,300, of which 65,438+0,200 is S.M.79-II model.