SAVOIA-MARCHETTI S.55 (TORPEDO BOMBER)

Savoia-Marchetti P. 55 was a double-hulled high-wing flying boat, which was first flown in 1924. About 240 aircraft of this type were built in the course of serial production. The plane was 16.5 meters long with a wingspan of 24 meters. The drive was provided by 2 Isotta Fraschini Asso A500 engines up to 500 HP each or A550 with 880 HP each. The top speed was 205 km / h. The deck armament consisted of four 7.7 mm machine guns. The machine could carry a load of bombs or torpedoes weighing up to 700 kilograms. Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was developed for the needs of the Italian military aviation (owned by Regia Aeronautica). It was distinguished by several unusual design solutions, including the use of a double-hull structure and the placement of the pilot's cabin between the hulls. Equally unusual was the use of in-line motors and counter-rotating propellers with one pushing and the other pulling propeller. However, the plane turned out to be an extremely successful construction, which was distinguished above all by a very long flight range. Savoia-Marchetti S.55, moreover, made the history of aviation in the 1920s, establishing a dozen or so flight duration and altitude records in the 1920s, and the famous Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo, piloting such a machine, went down in the history of aviation, crossing the South Atlantic or making a flight its swimming pool and covering a distance of more than 45,000 kilometers!