page_title: Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
section_title: 1942
hierarchical_section_title: Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero / Operational history / Regia Aeronautica / Use as a torpedo bomber / 1942
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Aereo Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 della 193ª Squadriglia Bombardamento Terrestre, 87º Gruppo, 30º Stormo, in volo sul cielo di Sciacca. Foto proveniente dall'Archivio privato della famiglia Riggio. English: A Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 of the 193ª Squadriglia Bombardamento Terrestre (193th Land Bombing Squadrilla), 87º Gruppo (87th Group), 30º Stormo (87th Wing). 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: The Axis' fortunes started to decline steadily during 1942. Over 100 SM.79s were in service in different Italian torpedo squadrons. In addition to its wide-scale deployment in its intended bomber-torpedo bomber role, the Sparviero was also used for close support, reconnaissance and transport missions. In the first six months of 1942, all the Italo-German efforts to hit Allied ships had only resulted in the sinking of the merchant ship Thermopilae by an aircraft flown by Carlo Faggioni.
  The Allies aimed to provide Malta with vital supplies and fuel through major convoy operations at all costs. Almost all Axis air potential was used against the first Allied convoy, code-named Operation Harpoon. 14 June saw the second torpedoing of Liverpool, by a 132º Gruppo SM.79, putting it out of action for another 13 months. Regardless of where the torpedo struck, (amidships in the case of Liverpool, aft as for Kent, or forward as happened to Glasgow) the cruisers remained highly vulnerable to torpedoes, but no Italian air attack managed to hit them with more than one torpedo at once. On the same day the merchant ship Tanimbar was sunk by SM.79s of the 132nd, and finally the day after HMS Bedouin, a Tribal-class destroyer, already damaged by two Italian cruisers, was sunk by pilot M. Aichner, also of 132nd Gruppo. For years this victory was contested by the Italian Navy, who claimed to have sunk Bedouin with gunfire.
  August saw heavy attacks on the 14 merchant ships and 44 major warships of the Operation Pedestal convoy, the second Allied attempt to resupply Malta past Axis bombers, minefields and U-boats. Nine of the merchant ships and four of the warships were sunk, and others were damaged, but only the destroyer HMS Foresight and the merchant ship MV Deucalion were sunk by Italian torpedo bombers. Although damaged, the tanker SS Ohio, a key part of the convoy, was towed into Grand Harbour to deliver the vital fuel on 15 August 1942 to enable Malta to continue functioning as an important Allied base, a major Allied strategic success.
  By winter 1942, in contrast to Operation Torch, 9 December was a successful day when four SM.79s sank a Flower-class corvette and a merchant ship, with the loss of one aircraft. Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia, another prominent member of the Italian torpedo-airforce who was credited with over 90,718 tonnes (100,000 tons) of enemy shipping sunk, was shot down the day after saying "We will probably all be dead before Christmas". The risks of attempting to overcome the effective defences of allied ships were too great to expect much chance of long-term survival, but he was later rescued from the water, badly wounded. On 18 November, the light cruiser HMS Arethusa was torpedoed and badly damaged during Operation Stone Age.
  Despite the increased activity in 1942, the results were considerably poorer than those of the previous year; the efforts made by the bombers were subject to heavy criticism and widely deemed to have been insufficient. Many debated the possibilities of torpedo manufacturing defects or even sabotage: the first 30 used in 1940 had excellent reliability, but a number of later torpedoes were found to be defective, especially those made at the Naples factory. During Operation Harpoon, over 100 torpedoes were launched, but only three of these had hit their targets.
caption: A S.M.79 of the 193ª Squadriglia Bombardamento Terrestre (193th Land Bombing Squadron), 87º Gruppo (87th Group), 30º Stormo (87th Wing)
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