(Savoia Marchetti) S.M.84 @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 Savoia-Marchetti SM.84
    Savoia-Marchetti SM.84
  • SM.84 in natural metal SM.84 in natural metal
    SM.84 in natural metal
  • Three-view drawing Three-view drawing
    Three-view drawing
  • Colourised photo Colourised photo
    Colourised photo
  • With post-1943 Italian roundels With post-1943 Italian roundels
    With post-1943 Italian roundels
  • Front view Front view
    Front view
  • Instrument panel Instrument panel
    Instrument panel
  • Cockpit Cockpit
    Cockpit

Savoia-Marchetti SM.84

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 (not to be confused with the Savoia-Marchetti S.84 twin-engined airliner prototype of 1935-1936, whose designation was re-used) was an Italian three-engined medium bomber and torpedo bomber of the Second World War. Designed by Alessandro Marchetti to replace the successful SM.79 Sparviero, it shared its predecessor's wing and trimotor layout, but received a new fuselage, a twin tail and more powerful engines. Although it entered service with the Regia Aeronautica in 1941 and was built in more than 300 examples, it was disliked by its crews, was retired before the SM.79 and never really replaced it.

Development

Work on a successor to the SM.79 began in 1938-1939. Rather than an entirely new design, Savoia-Marchetti chose to produce an improved SM.79, using a similar wing mated to a new fuselage, a twin tail and engines of about 1,000 hp each, giving a combined output of some 3,000 hp. On 21 September 1939, an order was placed for two prototypes of the new aircraft, at first known as the SM.89 or SM.79bis, and production orders for 183 aircraft followed in December 1939; a first order for 246 aircraft was reached while the prototype was beginning its test flights.

The first prototype made its maiden flight on 5 June 1940, only five days before Italy's entry into the war. Series production began at the end of 1940, at the SIAI works in Sesto Calende and under licence by Aeronautica Umbra at Foligno. Depending on the sources, 309 to 329 aircraft of all versions were delivered to the Regia Aeronautica.

Design

Basically an enhanced SM.79 with more modern solutions and systems, the SM.84 was a low-wing monoplane of mixed construction. The wooden wing was built around three spars, while the fuselage of rectangular section had a welded steel-tube structure covered with light alloy at the front and with fabric and plywood further aft. The main landing gear was shared with the SM.79.

The crew numbered five or six. The two pilots sat side by side, followed by the radio operator and the flight engineer; the cockpit had a large windscreen and the fuselage eight windows. The bombardier's nacelle, more streamlined than that of the SM.79, housed a Jozza U3 bombsight and was retractable to reduce drag. An OMI camera was fitted in the fuselage and another camera (such as an AGR.90 or 91) could be mounted in the tail.

Protection was much better than on the SM.79, with about 700 kg of armour. The sixteen self-sealing fuel tanks, resistant to 12.7 mm rounds, held 3,260 litres, which could be supplemented by two 415-litre tanks in the fuselage and a 2,500-litre tank in the bomb bay. The twin tail helped to cope with the greater weight and power, and gave a better field of fire to the dorsal gun.

Defensive armament was similar to that of the CANT Z.1007: a Caproni-Lanciani Delta E dorsal turret, turning through 360°, with a 12.7 mm Scotti machine gun (350 rounds), a ventral Scotti and two beam Scottis fed by 120-round belts. The Scotti guns proved less reliable than the Breda-SAFAT, and the dorsal turret could not fire forward through the propeller arcs, leaving the aircraft vulnerable to head-on attacks.

Unlike earlier Savoia-Marchetti bombers, whose bombs were stowed vertically, the SM.84 had a horizontal bomb bay in the middle of the fuselage, able to hold two 500 kg, three 250 kg, ten 100 kg or ten 50 kg bombs. Externally it could carry two 500 or 800 kg bombs, two torpedoes or smaller bombs, but in practice the usual load was a single torpedo or about 1,000 kg of bombs. Power came from three Piaggio P.XI RC.40 fourteen-cylinder radial engines of 1,000 hp (746 kW) at 4,000 m. At full load the SM.84 reached 467 km/h at 5,000 m, climbed to 5,000 m in 14 min 48 s and had a practical ceiling of 8,200 m; at 5,500 m and 397 km/h its endurance was 5 h 17 min, for a range of 2,040 km.

Operational history

The first unit to fly the SM.84 was the 41° Gruppo of the 12° Stormo, which started operations from Rhodes on 2 February 1941. Its first actions were unsuccessful and two aircraft landed in Turkey, their crews later returning to Rhodes. From 20 to 28 May 1941 the Gruppo's SM.84s bombed, torpedoed and reconnoitred around Crete, but the type proved inadequate in the anti-shipping role, and the unit reverted to the SM.79 in January 1942.

The 36° Stormo (108° and 109° Gruppi) received its SM.84s on 7 May 1941 and became a torpedo-bomber unit, operating from Decimomannu, Sardinia, from September 1941. On 27 September 1941, during Operation Halberd, a dozen SM.84s attacked a British convoy bound for Malta. Sottotenente Arduino Buri torpedoed the battleship HMS Nelson, which was put out of action for some six months, but the attack cost six aircraft and more than 30 men, including the Stormo commander, Colonnello Riccardo Hellmuth Seidl, and three squadriglia commanders. It was the only torpedo success of this importance credited to the SM.84. The 36° Stormo also sank the merchant ship Empire Defender in November 1941, and on 9 April 1942 nine SM.84s seriously damaged the cruiser HMS Penelope. The 282a Squadriglia, formed on 28 June 1941 with four torpedo bombers, flew similar missions with some success.

In July 1941, the 7° Stormo (4° and 5° Gruppi), based in Sicily, used its SM.84s to bomb Malta, and in mid-October 1941 the 32° Stormo was equipped with the type, with one group of torpedo bombers and one of bombers. On 12 May 1942, three SM.84s of the 14a Squadriglia, together with four Junkers Ju 88s, attacked Ta' Qali airfield under Italian and German fighter escort; intercepted by Spitfires and Hurricanes, the bomber of Tenente Vinicio Vego Scocco was shot down. In June 1942, during Operation Harpoon, 14 torpedo bombers of the 36° Stormo and nine bombers of the 4° Gruppo attacked the convoy, losing several aircraft to Spitfires and anti-aircraft fire. On 4 July 1942, three SM.84s escorted by Bf 109s, Macchi C.202s and Re.2001s bombed Luqa airfield: the Spitfires of No. 249 Squadron broke through the escort, and two bombers were lost, while the third returned to Sicily badly damaged. As often, the RAF pilots had mistaken the SM.84s for CANT Z.1007s.

In August 1942, ten SM.84s attacked the Operation Pedestal convoy with special Motobomba circling torpedoes, losing two aircraft to enemy fighters, while other aircraft of the 32° and 36° Stormi also took part; only five of the fourteen merchant ships reached Malta. By October 1942, the 36° and 7° Stormi had given up the type. The 32° Stormo attacked the Allied landings of Operation Torch in North Africa in November 1942, lost 20 aircraft by the end of December and was withdrawn to Apulia.

The SM.84bis entered service in early 1943 with the 38° Gruppo, then with the 8° Stormo (27° and 28° Gruppi). Its use to resupply North Africa was a failure, as its useful load was too small despite a higher speed than the SM.82. Gradually replaced by the CANT Z.1007 and the SM.79, the SM.84 remained in July 1943 only with the 43° Stormo at Gioia del Colle, whose report criticised the small number of aircraft, the lack of night-trained pilots and the poor performance of the type.

At the armistice of September 1943, about 150 SM.84s were still available, more than 100 of them serviceable. Almost all were seized by the Germans, who rarely used them. Some went to the Slovak Air Force, about ten remained unused with the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana of the RSI, and six or seven served as transports with the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (241a Squadriglia of the 132° Gruppo Trasporti). The few survivors were withdrawn shortly after the war, by 1948-1949. No example has been preserved.

Assessment

The SM.84 is generally regarded as a failed design. General Francesco Pricolo called it a "wrong aircraft", and as early as 1941 Ettore Muti complained about its poor handling and difficult take-off. Heavier than the SM.79, with a higher wing loading, it was outclassed in the torpedo role by the lighter and better powered SM.79bis, and as a bomber it was inferior to the CANT Z.1007 ter, especially at altitude: above 5,000 m it was almost impossible to fly.

Variants

  • SM.84 : First production version, powered by three 1,000 hp Piaggio P.XI RC.40 radial engines.
  • SM.84bis : Improved version with a modified wing with positive dihedral, and improvements to the cockpit, the engine exhausts and the torpedo release system; not a major evolution.
  • SM.84ter : Version with an enlarged wing and three 18-cylinder Piaggio P.XII RC.35 engines of 1,500 hp at take-off (1,350 hp at 3,500 m), capable of more than 500 km/h. A single example was completed in 1944; flown by the postwar Aeronautica Militare, it was destroyed by fire in a landing accident in October 1946.

Operators

  • Italy :
    • Regia Aeronautica : 7°, 8°, 10°, 12°, 32°, 36° and 43° Stormi, 282a Squadriglia.
    • Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.
    • Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.
    • Aeronautica Militare (postwar, until 1948-1949).
  • Germany : Luftwaffe (aircraft captured in September 1943).
  • Slovakia : Slovak Air Force.

References

  • Gori, Cesare. SIAI SM.84 (Ali d'Italia No. 21). Turin: La Bancarella Aeronautica, 2006.
  • Angelucci, Enzo. World Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft. London: Jane's, 1981.
  • Donald, David (ed.). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Leicester: Blitz Editions, 1997.
  • Rogers, Anthony. Battle over Malta: Aircraft Losses and Crash Sites 1940-42. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2000.
  • Lembo, Daniele. SM.84. Aerei nella Storia.
  • Wikipedia (EN and IT), Savoia-Marchetti SM.84.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 of Wikipedia ( authors )

Savoia-Marchetti SM.84

  • Role : Medium bomber and torpedo bomber.
  • Manufacturer : Savoia-Marchetti (SIAI), Aeronautica Umbra (licence).
  • Designer : Alessandro Marchetti.
  • First flight : 5 June 1940.
  • Introduction : 1941.
  • Retired : 1948-1949.
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary users :
    • Regia Aeronautica.
    • Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.
    • Slovak Air Force.
  • Number built : 309 to 329 (depending on sources).
  • Developed from : Savoia-Marchetti SM.79.

    • Specifications (SM.84)

  • Crew: 5 to 6.
  • Length: 58 ft 10 in (17.93 m).
  • Wingspan: 69 ft 3 in (21.10 m).
  • Height: 15 ft 1 in (4.59 m).
  • Wing area: 660 sq ft (61.0 m²).
  • Empty weight: 19,502 lb (8,846 kg).
  • Gross weight: 29,163 lb (13,228 kg).
  • Fuel capacity: 3,260 l in 16 self-sealing tanks (plus up to 3,330 l in auxiliary tanks).
  • Powerplant: 3 × Piaggio P.XI RC.40 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines.
  • Power: 1,000 hp (746 kW) each at 4,000 m.
  • Maximum speed: 290 mph (467 km/h, 252 kts) at 5,000 m.
  • Range: 1,140 mi (1,830 km) - 2,040 km at 5,500 m and 397 km/h.
  • Endurance: 5 h 17 min.
  • Service ceiling: 25,900 ft (7,900 m) - practical ceiling 8,200 m at full load.
  • Time to altitude: 5,000 m in 14 min 48 s.
  • Armour: about 700 kg.
  • Guns: 4 × 12.7 mm (0.50 in) Scotti machine guns (Caproni-Lanciani Delta E dorsal turret, ventral and two beam positions).
  • Bombs: up to 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) of bombs or 2 torpedoes (usually 1 torpedo or about 1,000 kg of bombs).

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 of Wikipedia ( authors )
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