Italian Forces

The Alessandro Marchetti’s twin fuselage airplane

IMC Archives

The unusual shape of the Alessandro Marchetti’s “twin fuselage” Savoia-Marchetti SM.92. The airplane has the Luftwaffe markings because the only SM.92’s prototype (MM531) flew at Savoia-Marchetti’s Vergiate airfield on 12 November 1943 (test crew Aldo Moggi, pilot, and Carlo Balzarini, flight engineer) when, after the Kingdom of Italy’s armistice with the Allies, the Northern Italy were under German control. Alessandro Marchetti, one of most fine of Italian aircraft designers, developed the SM.92 from the twin engines “P-38 style” SM.91 (only two prototypes produced) removing the central nacelle and carrying the two tandem seat cockpit on the left’s fuselage, reducing wing span (18.55 m), wing surface (38.52 square meters), empty weight (6,250 kg) and forward section. The performances were remarkable: maximum speed 615 km/h, time of climb to 6,000 meters 7' and 10", range 2,000 km, ceiling 12,000 meters with a heavy armament composed by three 20mm cannons (two under the fuselage, one on the right engine) and five 12.7mm machine guns (two on the right engine, two on the left engine, one remote controlled on a rear nacelle under the horizontal tail plane). After the first flight, the test of the only SM.92 built continued on the following year but on 17 March 1944 the aircraft was victim of the “friendly fire” when, mistook for a P-38, was fired by the Lt. Mazzei’s MC.205 of the ANR’s Squadriglia "Montefusco" took off from Venaria Reale, near Turin. An engine of the SM.92 was damaged and its pilot landed in emergency at Lonate Pozzolo. The plane was repaired and returned to flight on June 1944. Despite none really interest by the German, the SM.92 carried on few other flights, but, with the SM.91, was completely destroyed by an American raid over the Vergiate’s Savoia-Marchetti factory on 27 December 1944. The total flight time of the SM.92 was 21 hours and 3 minutes. Victor Sierra