Savoia-Marchetti SM.93

Picture - SM.93 with Luftwaffe insigna

Role: Dive bomber
Manufacturer: Savoia-Marchetti
Designed by: Alessandro Marchetti
First flight: 31 January 1944
Number built: 1

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.93 was an Italian dive bomber designed and produced in Italy from 1943.

Design

The SM-93 was an all-wood single-engined low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage. The fuselage had a monocoque structure, with a single fin and low-set tailplane. The crew of two were accommodated under a long greenhouse-style canopy, with the pilot lying in a prone position above the rear of the engine, a Daimler-Benz DB 605A liquid-cooled V12 engine, while the and the gunner/radio-operator sat facing rearwards on a conventional seat. The two-spar wings were in three parts with the inner wings sharply tapered to the join, outboard of the landing gear attachments, and the outer wings moderately tapered to the rounded wingtips. The prone position for the pilot was intended to enable the pilot to resist the onset of g-induced loss of consciousness, but the position was uncomfortable for normal flight and severely limited the rearwards view of the pilot.

Development

The SM.93 made its maiden flight on 31 January 1944, and up to 29 March 1944 the SM-93 had made 16 test-flights with speeds up to 900 km/h (560 mph) achieved in a dive, demonstrating the low drag and clean aerodynamics, but the programme was halted by the German control Commission that was running weapons production in the Repubblica Sociale Italiana - RSI.

Despite the good performance of the SM-93 the prone position was unsatisfactory and there were doubts about the strength of the aircraft in the dive-bombing role, and by that stage of WWII the aircraft production facilities in the RSI were limited.

Specifications (SM.93)

Data from Plane Facts: Unique dive bomber

General characteristics

Crew: 2, pilot & rear gunner
Length: 10.93 m (35 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 13.90 m (45 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.80 m (12 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 31.10 m² (334.6 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,552 kg (7,814 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Powerplant: 1x— Daimler-Benz DB 605A liquid-cooled inverted-V12, 1,100 kW (1,475 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 515 km/h (313 kn, 360 mph) at 4,500 m
Cruise speed: 505 km/h (272 kn, 313 mph) at 7,000 m
Range: 1,650 km (891 nmi, 1025 mi)
Service ceiling: 8,200 m (26,900 ft)

Armament

Guns:
1 x— 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon (150 rounds) firing through the propeller hub
2 x— 12.7 mm (.50 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns (with 350 rpg) in the wings
1 x— 12.7 mm (.50 in) Breda-SAFAT machine gun on a flexible mounting in the rear cockpit
Bombs: up to 820 kg (1,800 lb)

"Plane Facts: Unique dive bomber". Air International, August 1982, Vol 23 No 2. p. 98. ISSN 0306-5634.

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Source: WikiPedia