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HISTORY
ermany and Italy, supporting Franco's
Fascist dictatorship, gave men and
equipment to the war effort, utilizing the
conflict as a testbed for new weapons and
tactics. The SM.79 couldn’t have missed this
chance and in February 1937 roughly 60 of
those planes reached Spain having been
bought by the Francoist government. Another
92 planes sent by the Italian government
joined in and started bombing targets along
fellow Italian and German planes. It must be
said that the peculiar configuration of the
payload in the fuselage raised some doubts,
the bombs being attached vertically, would
have to unnaturally rotate when dropped,
at the expense of precision. The aiming duty
fell to the commander of the aircraft that had
to go through the entire airframe to get to the
bombsight which was in the “gondola” situated
almost at the tail section. He also had control
of the rudder through a little steering wheel,
allowing him to adjust his aim. The quantity
and different kinds of payloads was selected
by the pilot through a big keyboard that was
ironically called “Typewriter”. The deployment
of the SM.79 in Spain was a success, enemy
fighters weren’t fast enough to intercept them
and this contributed even more the reputation
of the aircraft, although failing to rationally
consider more modern aircraft that would soon
enter into service. In any case it became the
Regia Aeronautica standard bomber, sharing
its service with the Fiat Br. 20.
n 1937 came the idea to modify the SM.79
in order to participate in a French sporting
cup race which was to start in Istres, go
through Damascus and end in Paris. The
idea was to extensively modify 6 aircraft.
The military components were removed, the
fuselage was improved as well as the engines,
radio and navigational equipment. A noticeable
increase in maximum weight for takeoff
brought an increase of utility equipment and
autonomy. The aircraft were labled SM.79C
for “Corsa” (Race) and they were quickly able
to participate in the cup in August 1937. Right
from the start it was clear the Italians were
superior, their aircraft sported a bright red
paintjob that would then be known as “Rosso
Corsa”. Even after some unfavorable weather
A very early picture of the first prototype of the SM.79 serialled I
-
MAGO in its passenger configuration with cabin
side windows.
A nice shot of the personal SM.79C airplane of Bruno Mussolini, the son of the Chief of the Government at that
time. The plane joined the famous Istres-Damascus-Paris flying race in August 1937.
A wonderful formation of several SM.79 taken in Spain during the Spanish
Civil War. SM.79s were fast and reliable, and performed bombing missions
with very few losses
g
I
INFO Eduard
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February 2024