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Savoia-Marchetti SM.92


Heavy Fighter Prototype Aircraft


Kingdom of Italy | 1943



"The Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 was an Italian World War 2 attempt at producing a twin-fuselage heavy fighter."

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 Heavy Fighter Prototype Aircraft.
2 x Daimler-Benz DB 605 V12 liquid-cooled supercharged inline piston engines developing 1,290 horsepower each.
Propulsion
382 mph
615 kph | 332 kts
Max Speed
39,370 ft
12,000 m | 7 miles
Service Ceiling
1,243 miles
2,000 km | 1,080 nm
Operational Range
860 ft/min
262 m/min
Rate-of-Climb
Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 Heavy Fighter Prototype Aircraft.
2
(MANNED)
Crew
44.9 ft
13.70 m
O/A Length
60.9 ft
(18.55 m)
O/A Width
13.6 ft
(4.15 m)
O/A Height
13,007 lb
(5,900 kg)
Empty Weight
19,290 lb
(8,750 kg)
MTOW
Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 Heavy Fighter Prototype Aircraft .
PROPOSED:
2 x 20mm MG 151 cannons in central wing section
1 x 20mm MG 151 cannon in starboard fuselage
1 x 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT heavy machine gun under portside engine.
1 x 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT heavy machine gun under starboard side engine.
1 x 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT heavy machine gun (remotely-controlled) in tail installation.

OPTIONAL:
Up to 4,400 pounds of conventional drop stores under central wing unit and 350 pounds under each outboard wing unit.
Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 family line.
SM.92 - Base Series Designation
Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/31/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The conjoining of two airframes to produce an all-new design was a somewhat common occurrence throughout World War 2 (1939-1945) - the Americans and Germans both attempted it through several notable designs. The benefits to such design work was in increased range, firepower and straightline performance though often at the cost of maneuverability, weight and valuable war material. One of the classic examples of this conjoining became the North American F-82 "Twin Mustang" of the United States which mated the bodies of two P-51 fighters along a common central wing mainplane element and tail stabilizer. One of the lesser-known of the conjoined fighter developments of the war became an Italian design - the twin-engine, twin-boom, two-crew Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 - a heavy fighter based on the earlier twin-engine, single-boom, three-crew SM.88 of which only one was built. Like the SM.88, the SM.92 was also only seen in one completed example in 1943 which was destroyed before the end of the war by an Allied air raid.

The SM.92 utilized an asymmetric cockpit arrangement in which the two crew were seated in tandem under a shared canopy within the portside fuselage (as opposed to having two individual cockpits, one in each fuselage as in the F-82). The two crewmen consisted of the pilot and a dedicated rear gunner. Both fuselages included a Daimler-Benz DB 605 series liquid-cooled supercharged inverted V12 engine (1,290 horsepower each) at their front (driving three-bladed propeller assemblies) and vertical rudders at their rear. The two aircraft halves were joined by a common central wing mainplane and a common tail stabilizer plane. The outboard wing mainplanes were symmetrical and held well-forward of midships. The undercarriage was of a "tail-dragger" arrangement with a main leg held under each fuselage section and a single tailwheel fitted under the tail stabilizer unit. Dimensions included a length of 13.7 meters, a wingspan of 18.5 meters and a height of 4.15 meters. Performance from the twin-engine, twin-fuselage arrangement netted a maximum speed of 382 miles per hour, a range out to 1,245 miles and a service ceiling up to 39,360 feet.

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In terms of armament for a heavy fighter, the SM.92 was not to disappoint. 2 x 20mm MG 151 cannons (German) were fitted in the central wing mainplane with a third installed in the starboard side fuselage. A single 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT heavy machine gun was installed under each engine with a third fitted to the tail stabilizer unit facing aft (remotely-controlled to engage any trailing interceptors). Beyond its fixed armament, the SM-92 was slated to carry upwards of 4,400 pounds of conventional drop ordnance under the central wing mainplane and an additional 350 pounds under each outboard wing mainplane.

The SM.92 was devised to fulfill an Italian Air Force requirement for a new twin-seat multirole fighter. The wings, tailplanes and boom of the earlier SM.91 were retained for expediency and a twin fuselage, twin-boom planform was used to harness the power of two engines and doubled internal storage space. It was expected that the aircraft would exhibit the required performance of a fighter with the added punch of something more that a traditional fighter could offer. Construction of a flyable prototype was slow and complicated and a first flight was not recorded until October of 1943. Performance was shown to be slower than expected but over twenty hours of flying were recorded through this one example still (though the design was never properly fully vetted). September of 1943 saw the Italians surrender to the Allies but this left the SM.92 in Axis hands nonetheless. In March of 1944, the prototype was engaged by an Axis pilot who mistook the aircraft for an Allied Lockheed P-38 "Lightning" - an American-made fighter which also used a twin-boom configuration but a single, central nacelle for its cockpit placement. While surviving through desperate maneuvering, the prototype was riddled with enough bullets that damage forced it to be grounded for an extended period of time while repairs were enacted.

After this, the sole prototype was lost when Allied bombs were dropped on its holding area - destroying it completely and ending its attempt at fulfilling the Italian Air Force requirement.

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Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units

Contractor(s): Savoia-Marchetti - Italy
National flag of Italy National flag of the Kingdom of Italy

[ Kingdom of Italy (cancelled) ]
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Image of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92
Image from the Public Domain.
2 / 2
Image of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.92
Image from the Public Domain.

Going Further...
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 Heavy Fighter Prototype Aircraft appears in the following collections:
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