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Though Italy was an important ally for Germany in World War II, its contributions have largely been forgotten. In fact, though the Italian main battle formations suffered from inferior equipment and many Italians were ambivalent about the war, Italian special units scored many spectacular successes.
Notable among these elite units was the “Special Aerotorpedoes Unit” of the Italian air force (Regia Aereonautica), flying the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero (Sparrowhawk).
The SM.79 was by far the most important Italian warplane of World War II and one of the very few Italian aircraft produced in substantial quantities.
The SM.79 was conceived in 1934 as a fast, low wing, eight-passenger transport monoplane capable of being used in air-racing. It set 26 world records in the years 1937 to 39 and was converted into what was the fastest medium bomber in the world.
The conversion was not ideal. To get its top speed, the SM. 79 was a tri-motor with three Alfa Romeo 780 horsepower 126 RC.34 radials, and the central engine made it impossible to install forward firing defensive armament. To solve this problem, the SM.79 had a distinctive fuselage “hump” with a 12.7 inch heavy machine gun firing forward and a similar gun firing aft, along with three light machine guns.
The SM.79 was lightly constructed; the fuselage was made of a welded tubular steel frame and covered with duralumin in the forward section and the wings were all wood. It also had one little appreciated but major problem — the bombs were mounted vertically, limiting the size of an individual bomb to 250 pounds.
The SM.79 was a good performer, with a relatively rapid climb, a top speed of 270 mph, excellent for its time, and it could even be looped. The front engine gave some protection against anti aircraft fire and its wooden structure let it stay afloat in case of ditching.
The SM.79 first saw action in the Spanish Civil War in support of General Franco’s fascist forces. Its high speed made it invulnerable to interception, and at the beginning of World War II the 612 SM-79s of the Regia Aereonautica’s were Italy’s most important aircraft.
Italy declared war on Britain on June 10, 1940, and the following day SM.79s attacked Britain’s island fortress of Malta in the Mediterranean. The SM.79 proved very hard for early British fighters to catch, but by the end of 1940, its small bomb load and limited defensive armament made it less effective.
The SM.79 might have disappeared from combat at this point, but some had been fitted with two external under wing hard points, each capable of carrying a 1,931 pound Whitehead torpedo. As the British began to resupply Malta with naval convoys in the late summer of 1940, the SM.79s went into action as low level torpedo bombers, usually carrying only one torpedo to keep weight and drag down.
Even with one torpedo, the SM.
9s’ high speed allowed it to penetrate the British fighter screens and for two years the Sparrowhawks, despite the lack of an aiming system, wreaked havoc on British Malta convoys. Skimming in below 100 feet at dawn or dusk, pressing their attacks home with élan, they were one of the most feared Axis weapons in the Mediterranean.
However, by 1942, the results were considerably poorer than those of the previous year, mainly because of unreliable torpedoes; in one span, more than 100 torpedoes were launched with only three hits. The major culprit was the Napoli factory, where there was suspicion of sabotage by the pro-American Mafia.
By 1943 the SM.79 was easy pickings for Allied fighters and most were converted to transports, some serving until 1952.
(Dr. Michel’s articles appear twice a month in the KA. For questions or comments, e-mail Dr. Michel at marshall.michel@spangdahlem.af.mil.)
