Savoia-Marchetti S.55
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| Savoia-Marchetti S.55 | |
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 An S.55 taking off |
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| Type | Flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Savoia-Marchetti |
| Designed by | Alessandro Marchetti |
| Maiden flight | August 1924 |
| Introduced | 1926 |
| Retired | 1945 |
| Primary users | Societa Idrovolanti Alto Italia (Savoia) Regia Aeronautica |
| Number built | 200 |
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was a double-hulled flying boat produced in Italy beginning in 1924. Shortly after its introduction it began setting records for speed, payload, altitude and range.
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[edit] Design and development
The design of the S-55 was not orthodox by any standards. It had twin pontoon hulls in which passengers were carried, while its pilot and copilot occupied an open cockpit in the thick center sections of its high wing. It was powered by two engines mounted one behind the others on a superstructure above the wing and canted sharply at an upward angle. Two wire-braced booms connected the triple-finned tail structure to the twin hulls and wing.
The S.55 featured many innovative design features. All the passengers or cargo were placed in the twin hulls, but the pilot and crew captained the plane from a cockpit in the thicker section of the wing between the two hulls. As well, the S.55 had two inline counter-rotating propellors, achieved by mounting the twin engines back to back.
[edit] Operational history
Even though its design was unusual, the Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was a remarkably airworthy craft. In 1926 the S.55P prototype set 14 world records for speed, altitude and distance with a payload.[1] The S.55's greatest successes, however, were its many flights between Europe and the Americas.
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was one of the first airplanes to cross the Atlantic Ocean when the Santa Maria under Francesco de Pinedo made the crossing between Dakar, Senegal and Pernambuco, Brazil setting out on 13 February 1927; more than three months before Charles Lindbergh's first solo crossing. Pilots Francesco de Pinedo and Carlo del Prete took off from Sesto Calende, Italy, in an S-55 and headed west across the South Atlantic. Four months later they arrived back in Italy, having flown nearly 30,000 miles in 193 flying hours and having made just over 50 stops, including Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and New York City.
The Italian Air Marshall of the time, Italo Balbo soon became famous for organizing fleets of S.55s for Atlantic crossings, culminating in his 1933 flight with 24 aircraft to Chicago's Century of Progress International Exposition. On 1 July 1933 General Balbo commanded a flight of S-55s from Orbetello, Italy, completing the flight in just over 48 hours, maintaining a tight "V" formation. These large fleets of aircraft became so well known that even today a large formation is sometimes called a "Balbo".
The aircraft went on to serve the Italian Air Force and the Luftwaffe as a long range bomber and patrol aircraft but by World War II, the last 13 S.55s were no longer servicable and were kept in reserve.
[edit] Variants
- S.55
- S.55C
- S.55P
- S.55A
- S.55M
- S.55 Scafo Allargato
- S.55 Scafo Allargatissimo
- S.55X
[edit] Operators
[edit] Military Operators
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[edit] Specifications (S.55X)
[edit] General characteristics
- Crew: 5-6
- Length: 16.75 m (55 ft 0 in)
- Wingspan: 24.00 m (74 ft 9 in)
- Height: 5.00 m (16 ft 5 in)
- Wing area: 93.0 m² (1,001 ft²)
- Empty: 5,750 kg (12,677 lb)
- Loaded: kg ( lb)
- Maximum takeoff: 8,260 kg (18,210 lb)
- Powerplant: 2x Isotta-Fraschini Asso 750V, 656 kW (880 hp) each
[edit] Performance
- Maximum speed: 279 km/h (173 mph)
- Range: 3,500 km (2,175 miles)
- Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,405 ft)
- Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
- Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
- Power/Mass: kW/kg ( hp/lb)
[edit] Armament
- 4 x 7.7 mm machine guns
- 1 x torpedo or
- 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) of bombs
[edit] See also
Related lists
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Yenne 2003, p. 58.
[edit] Bibliography
- Yenne, Bill. Seaplanes & Flying Boats: A Timeless Collection from Aviation's Golden Age. New York: BCL Press, 2003. ISBN 1-932302-03-4.
[edit] External links
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