Aviation of World War II
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Aviation of World War II |
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S.M. 79 Sparviero
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SM.79B SparvieroMarchetti believed that not three, but a twin-engine bomber would be better suited for export. Therefore, despite the rejection of the S.79B project (Bimotor) by the Ministry of Aeronautics, he continued work in this direction, bringing the project to the construction of a prototype. It featured a completely new bow section with a glazed bombardier cockpit. To improve visibility, the cockpit was pushed forward and raised, it became narrower, and the pilots were seated in tandem. The hump was moved back a little. The change in balancing was corrected by lengthening the engine nacelles. Slightly increased the area of the keel. In general, the car became more streamlined, and this fully compensated for the decrease in total thrust. Armament practically did not change: three "Breda-SAFAT" machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber. One (stationary) was located in the nose, the second stood on the turret under the sliding panels "hump", and the ventral gondola was now used only to accommodate the third machine gun, which protected the lower rear sector. First flight on August 8, 1936. The aircraft were exported to Iraq and Romania.
SM.79 bisBack in March 1937, a special sight was installed on an ordinary S.79, and a suspension for an 860 kg torpedo was installed under the fuselage (slightly shifted to the left). In November, tests were carried out, which were quite successful. In March 1938, a new version was tested - with two torpedoes. This time the results were worse - the aircraft's controllability dropped. As a result, the option with one torpedo was adopted as a combat one. From the end of 1939, all production S.79s were equipped with torpedo holders. Torpedo bombers differed little from the usual S.79. Their crew was increased by one person - a naval observer officer; he sat between the radio operator and the flight mechanic. Since 1941, the motors began to be equipped first with elongated exhaust pipes, and then with flame arresters "Tipo Wellington" (based on a captured English flame arrester from "Wellington"). Flame suppressors began to be installed on the barrels of machine guns. In 1942, the Alfa-Romeo 126 engines were equipped with an ethyl alcohol injection system that increased by 20 minutes. engine power from 780 to 900 hp sec., this gave a speed increase of 50 km / h. But the payment for this was a sharp decrease in the resource of motors, which were already in short supply. The military proposed a project to modernize the outdated three-engine aircraft, keeping the old S.79 airframe, but replacing the motor installation. This variant was named S.M. 79bis. The Alfa-Romeo 126 motors, which had previously been on all production cars, were replaced by the Alfa-Romeo 128 RC.18 with SIAI 32 automatic propellers without cocks. The new engine had a design altitude of 1800 m (instead of 3600 for the old one) and therefore was more profitable for a low-altitude torpedo bomber. The additional power of the engines slightly increased the maximum and cruising speeds of the aircraft. The alcohol injection system developed for older engines has been retained. Alfa-Romeo 128 began to be installed on the repaired S.79 in the spring of 1943. They removed the fuselage gondola unnecessary for the torpedo bomber, and the empty bomb bay was occupied by a 1000 liter gas tank (a 2300 liter version was also envisaged). The torpedo bomber also did not need the lower machine gun - he went into the attack above the very tops of the waves. The gondola on torpedo bombers was sometimes removed earlier. Radio equipment and devices were modernized. They decided to make S.79 bis a standard version, launching it into production at the factories "Reggiani", "Aeronautics Umbra" and CNA (they intended to assemble 110 aircraft in total), as well as remake the previously produced aircraft according to a new model. On-board installations mounted 12.7-mm machine guns, and the hatches through which they fired were glazed. On one aircraft, the bow machine gun, which was used to suppress anti-aircraft installations of ships, was changed to a 20-mm cannon. A radio altimeter, gyrocompass and autopilot were added to the set of electronic equipment. In early 1944 from S.M. The 79 bis formed the Buscaglia torpedo group, later renamed Faggioni. On March 10, she attacked American ships for the first time at Anzio. On June 4, 12 aircraft from this group successfully struck Gibraltar: four ships sank and two were damaged. The Italian torpedo bombers fought on the side of the Germans until the beginning of 1945. Their last victory was a steamer with a displacement of 5,000 tons, sunk on January 5 in the Adriatic Sea. Armament. The forward-firing 12.7-mm Breda-SAFAT machine gun with 350 rounds was controlled by the pilot, the 12.7-mm Breda-SAFAT machine gun on the pivot was located under the visor panel at the rear of the dorsal fairing, having 500 rounds, the 12.7-mm Breda machine gun on turrets in the rear of the ventral nacelle to protect the rear hemisphere, 900 kg of bombs or one 860 kg torpedo.
Bibliography
April 27, 2017.
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