page_title: Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
section_title: Mishaps and combat losses
hierarchical_section_title: Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero / Mishaps and combat losses
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Atterragio fallito durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Foto proveniente dall'Archivio privato della famiglia Riggio. English: Crash landing during WWII. From the private archive of Riggio family.
context_page_description: The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero was a three-engined Italian medium bomber developed and manufactured by aviation company Savoia-Marchetti. It could be the best-known Italian aeroplane of the Second World War. The SM.79 was easily recognizable due to its fuselage's distinctive dorsal "hump", and was reportedly well liked by its crews, who nicknamed it il gobbo maledetto.
  The SM.79 was originally developed in the early 1930s as a cantilever low-wing monoplane of combined wood and metal construction. It had been designed with the intention of producing a swift eight-passenger transport aircraft, capable of besting even the fastest of its contemporaries, but had quickly attracted the attention of the Italian government with its potential as an armed combat aircraft. Performing its first flight on 28 September 1934, early examples of the type established 26 separate world records between 1937 and 1939, qualifying it for some time as the fastest medium bomber in the world. As such, the SM.79 quickly came to be regarded as an item of national prestige in Fascist Italy, attracting significant government support and often being deployed as an element of state propaganda.
context_section_description: While the SM.79 was often considered overall to be a relatively sturdy and well-developed aircraft, the type had experienced their share of misfortune.
  In Spain, SM.79 MM.28-16 (with a total crew of 17) was destroyed in the air on 12 April 1938, when one of its bombs detonated in the bomb bay. MM.28-25 (again with a crew of 17) was lost when another SM.79 damaged by anti-aircraft guns collided with it on 23 March. A further SM.79, MM.28-16 was damaged by an anti-aircraft shell, and landed with dead and wounded on-board (4 January 1939).
  On 30 June 1939 two of the aircraft, 13-6 and 13-7, both carrying a full fuel load, collided and crashed, with the entire crew of nine killed on impact.
  At the beginning of World War II, on 13 June 1940, six Sparvieri of 9° Stormo (Wing) bombed Ghisonaccia airfield, in Corsica, but one was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and became the first Sparviero downed in World War II.
  The 9° Stormo continued to suffer heavy losses in Africa. Initially used to harass light forces operating in the desert, the Sparvieros were subsequently sent against the British advanced columns in Operation Compass. On 16 December 1940, six Sparvieros were sent over As Sallum to counter enemy armoured units, but before they could reach their target, three of the lead section were shot down with the loss of 16 men, including Commander Mario Aramu. The wing was put out of action and the personnel were sent back to Italy aboard the RM Città di Messina, but on 14 January 1941 the ship was sunk by submarine HMS Regent, with the loss of 432 men, including 53 members of the 9°. The wing was later re-formed with Z.1007s.
  9–11 July 1940: Battle of Calabria, one SM.79 (38th Gruppo) was downed by a Blackburn Skua of HMS Ark Royal. On 11 July, another SM.79 (90th Gruppo) was downed by a Gloster Sea Gladiator of HMS Eagle.
  1 August 1940: an SM.79 was shot down by a Skua from Ark Royal. This was General Stefano Cagna's aircraft.
  2 September, Operation Hats: the new Fairey Fulmar fighters based on HMS Illustrious downed a 41° Stormo SM.79.
  4 September: another SM.79 (34th Gruppo) was downed by Fulmars.
  12–14 October 1940, Operation MW 2: two SM.79 (36° Stormo) were downed by Fulmars from Illustrious.
  10 January 1941, Battle of Taranto: a single Fulmar from Illustrious downed two SM.79s of 30° Stormo.
  20–22 April 1941: one SM.79 (278ª Squadriglia, torpedo unit) was shot down on the 21st, another, from 34° Gruppo was shot down the next day, by Fulmars from HMS Formidable
  8 May 1941, Operation Tiger: two SM.79s (38°Gruppo) were downed by the Ark Royal's Fulmars
  21–25 July 1941, Operation Substance: 23 July, one SM.79 (38th) and two (283rd) torpedo bombers and on the 25th, one SM.79 (89th Gruppo) were shot down, all by Fulmars from Ark Royal.
  12–17 June 1942, Operation Harpoon: Fulmars and Sea Hurricanes downed four SM.79s of 36° Stormo (torpedo-bombers) on 14 June. On 15 June another SM.79 (52° Gruppo) was shot down.
  10–15 August 1942, Operation Pedestal: two SM.79s (109° and 132° Gruppo) were downed on 12 August.
  The total number of reconnaissance, bomber and torpedo bombers downed in these two years by naval fighters was, not counting aircraft heavily damaged and eventually lost, 24 aircraft, 2% of total production.
  A major safety issue in the operation of the SM.79 was the difference between the calculated and effective range figures, which led to several mishaps. Two accidents highlight the deficiencies in range of the Sparvieros.
  One such incident befell the ferry flight of 27th Gruppo. This unit was transferred from Alghero to North Africa. The 16 Sparvieros took off at 11:50 of 4 April 1941, but one of the eight aircraft of the 18ª Squadriglia in the first wave had an accident and crashed on the airport strip. The other eight from 52ª Squadriglia could only take off 40 minutes later, while the first seven circled over the airfield. The 15 Sparvieros flew together until reaching Misurata, but the 18th squadriglia had flown for much longer and was short of fuel. Subsequently, its SM.79s crashed one after the other with only two 
caption: A SM.79 following a crash landing, circa 1940
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