Air France personnel stationed in Damascus during the 1930s, Chevade and four of his work mates designed and built an amateur aircraft. Because of his five “fathers”, it was named S.B.P.C.C. DS1 “Papillon”.
Inter-Wars
Sayers SCW / CWS
The Sayers SCW, also known as the Sayers CWS, was a single seat glider designed by Capt. W.H Sayers and built by The Central Aircraft Co, Kilburn, London, N.W.6, F.T. Courtney and Sqn Ldr M.E,A. Wright. The design was influenced by the Hannover Vampyr glider, the winner of the 1922 Wasserkuppe.
Of wooden construction, it was reported that the glider had been designed in 19 hours and built in 19 days.
The undercarriage was twin mainwheels of fixed centre, with nose bumpers, plus a tail skid. The cantilever wing had no airbrakes or flaps.
Only one was built, for the 1922 Itford competitions as No.17. After the competitions it carried out further test flying at Itford, in December, but was wrecked when a tent was blown down on top of the glider.
Wingspan: 12.95 m / 42 ft 6 in
Length: 6.83 m / 22 ft 5 in
Wing area: 21.83 m / 235 sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 7.7
Wing section: T.62 modified (an airscrew section)
Empty weight: 81.64 kg / 180 lb
AUW: 163.3 kg / 360 lb
Wing loading: 7.37 kg/sq.m / 1.53 lb/sq.ft
Sawyer A
Built in 1935 by Hugh S Sawyer, the Sawyer A single place open cockpit monoplane was registered N14846 c/n 3.
It crashed at Waukesha WI, USA, and the registration was cancelled on 20 October 1936.
Engine: 65hp Velie M-5
Seats: 1
Sawyer, Hugh S
Milwaukee WI.
USA
Circa 1935 built a monoplane
Savoia-Marchetti SM.83
First flying in 1938, the S.M.83 was a ten-passenger commercial transport powered initially by three 559kW Alfa Romeo 126 RC.34 radial engines. Production totalled 23 aircraft.
Engines: 3 x 559kW Alfa Romeo 126 RC.34
Max take-off weight: 11500 kg / 25353 lb
Wingspan: 21.2 m / 70 ft 7 in
Max. speed: 444 km/h / 276 mph
Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello
The Savoia-Marchetti S.M.81 Pipistrello (Bat) had originally been designed as a bomber, by Alessandro Marchetti, and saw service in both the Spanish and Abyssinian wars.
Based on the S.M.73, it also had a fixed landing gear arrangement.
Dating from 1935, the S.M.81 was already a degree of obsolescent when Italy entered World War II. Despite the robust mixed construction which proved capable of absorbing much battle damage, it was replaced as a bomber by the S.M.79.
Production ceased in March 1938 after 534 had been delivered. The 304 which remained on the strength of the Regia Aeronautica were converted to troop carriers (18 men) after withdrawal from front-line squadriglie.
In this capacity, the S.M.81 was relegated to service on the African and Eastern fronts, where it proved sufficiently useful for production to be resumed in 1943 of the S.M.81/T. At the armistice in September 1943 only about 80 of these additional aircraft were built, and only four remained in the south by this time although at least two complete transport units were still equipped with the type in the ‘Salo’ Republic of Italy (Fascist-controlled northern Italy).
An interesting historical fact is that one transport model of the S.M.81 was later used as the personal transport of Mussolini, and received the name Taratuga (Tortoise).
A variety of different radial motors was fitted, including the 485kW or 507kW Alfa Romeo 125 RC.35 or 126 RC.34 respectively, the 485kW Gnome- Rhone 14K or the 500kW Piaggio P.X RC.35.
Around 70 were delivered to Spain during the Civil War and 40 were still in service as transports in March 1940.
Savoia Marchetti SM 81 Pipistrello
Engines: 3 x Piaggio P. X RC.35, 690 hp / 522kW
Max take-off weight: 9300 kg / 20503 lb
Empty weight: 6300 kg / 13889 lb
Wing loading: 20.50 lb/sq.ft / 100.0 kg/sq.m
Wingspan: 24 m / 78 ft 9 in
Length: 17.8 m / 58 ft 5 in
Height: 4.45 m / 15 ft 7 in
Wing area: 93 sq.m / 1001.04 sq ft
Max speed: 184 kt / 340 km/h / 211 mph
Service Ceiling: 7000 m / 22950 ft
Range: 1080 nm / 2000 km / 1243 miles
Armament: 5 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 1000kg of bombs
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero
Developed from an eight-seat commercial airliner of 1934, the three-engine Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 Sparviero entered service as a conventional medium bomber with the Regia Aeronautica in 1937, and served operationally with the Aviacion del Tercio alongside the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Savoia-Marchetti S.M.79 Sparviero Article
In 1937 the S.M.79 embarked on trials at Gorizia as a torpedo bomber, being equipped to launch a single 450mm naval torpedo from an offset rack under the fuselage. The following year trials with paired torpedoes led to the adoption of the S.M.79-II aircraft as standard torpedo bomber equipment. Following Italy’s entry into the war in June 1940, when Sparvieri (Sparrowhawks) equipped 14 stormi based in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Libya, the aircraft was constantly in action in the anti-shipping role, its first action being an attack by 19 S.M.79s of the 9° and 46° Stormi on French shipping off the Riviera coast on 13/14 June.
During the invasion of Crete S.M.79s of the 92° Gruppo and the 28la Squadriglia were active against Allied shipping in the Aegean, after which most aircraft were redeployed to Libya for operations against British naval forces and convoys in the Central Mediterranean as well as the naval base at Malta. Among the ships of the Royal Navy sunk by S.M.79s in the Mediterranean were the destroyers HMS Husky, HMS Jaguar, HMS Legion, and HMS Southwall, while the battleship HMS Malaya and the carriers HMS Indomitable and HMS Victorious were all struck by torpedoes launched by the Italian torpedo bombers; the majority of these ships were hit during the attacks on the Operation ‘Pedestal’ convoy which sailed with 14 merchant ships and heavy escort for the relief of Malta. Among the famous Italian pilots of the Sparviero were men such as Capitani Buscaglia, Cimicchi, di Bella and Melley, An improved version was the S.M.79-III without the ventral gondola but with a forward-firing 20mm cannon.
The SM.79 was blooded in the Spanish Civil War as a level bomber with four gruppi of the Italians’ Aviazione Legionaria and 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-G-28 of the Nationalists’ Agrupacion Espanola. Total deliveries to Spain were some 135 SM.79-ls, and as they pulled out at the end of the war the Italians donated 80 of their surviving aircraft to the victorious Nationalists. In the war the SM.79-ls had proved decisive, for they comprised one of the few homogeneous forces able to undertake an effective offensive role, in this instance long-range bombing without the need for fighter escort because of their performance and good defensive firepower. The Sparviero also proved reliable, and remained in service with the Spanish air force for many years after World War II.
The aircraft suffered from poor servicing facilities, and it was unusual for even as much as half the available strength of Sparvieri to be fit for operations at any given time. Nevertheless the S.M.79 was acknowledged as being among the best torpedo aircraft to serve in the Mediterranean theatre during World War II.
Savoia Marchetti SM 79 Sparviero
Engines: 3 x Piaggio P XI R C 40, 986 hp
Length: 53.15 ft / 16.2 m
Height: 13.451 ft / 4.1 m
Wingspan: 69.554 ft / 21.2 m
Wing area: 664.139 sq.ft / 61.7 sq.m
Max take off weight: 24916.5 lb / 11300.0 kg
Weight empty: 16758.0 lb / 7600.0 kg
Max. weight carried: 8158.5 lb / 3700.0 kg
Max. speed: 234 kt / 434 km/h
Cruising speed: 173 kt / 320 km/h
Service ceiling: 22966 ft / 7000 m
Wing loading: 37.52 lb/sq.ft / 183.0 kg/sq.m
Range: 1890 nm / 3500 km
Range (max. weight): 1075 nm / 1990 km
Crew: 5
Armament: 4x MG
Bombload: 2200kg
SM.79-l Sparviero
Type: four/five-seat medium bomber
Powerplant: 3 x Alfa Romeo 126 RC 34, 582 kW (780 hp)
Span: 21.2m (69ft 6.7 in)
Length: 15.80m (51ft l0in)
Height: 4.3 m / 14 ft 1 in
Wing area: 61.7 sq.m / 664.13 sq ft
Empty weight: 6800 kg / 14992 lb
Max T/O weight: 10480 kg (23,100 lb)
Max speed: 267 mph at 13,125 ft
Ceiling: 6500 m / 21350 ft
Operational range: 1,180 miles
Armament: 1 x 7.7-mm (0.303-in) and 3 x 12.7-mm 0.5-in) m¬g
Bombload: 1250 kg (2,756 lb) internally
Crew: 5
Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 Marsupiale
A twenty-four-seat passenger transport powered by three 559kW Alfa-Romeo 126RC.34 radial engines. The S.M.75 prototype flew in November 1937. Production for military and civil use continued until 1943, 90 machines being delivered to the Italian authorities and five exported to Hungary. The latter were finally converted for military use with dorsal and ventral gun turrets. A number of Italian S.M.75s were also militarised.
SM.75
Max take-off weight: 13000 kg / 28660 lb
Loaded weight: 9500 kg / 20944 lb
Wingspan: 29.68 m / 97 ft 5 in
Length: 21.6 m / 71 ft 10 in
Height: 5.1 m / 17 ft 9 in
Wing area: 118.6 sq.m / 1276.60 sq ft
Max. speed: 363 km/h / 226 mph
Ceiling: 6250 m / 20500 ft
Range: 1720 km / 1069 miles
Savoia-Marchetti S.74
The Savoia–Marshetti S.74 designed and constructed for the Italian airline Ala Littoria. The S.74 could carry between 20 and 27 passengers in the lower compartment with panoramic windows, while the cockpit crew were five metres up. Navigator and radio man were seated in the enclosed nose.
The prototype, I-URBE, was first flown in November of 1934. Only three were built and they saw service from 1935.
Savoia-Marchetti S.73
First flown in 1934, the S.73P was a long-range commercial transport powered by three 522kW Piaggio Stella IXRC or other engines of similar output. Accommodation provided for 18 passengers. Deliveries to commercial operators began in 1935.
Many were impressed by the Regia Aeronautica as troop transports during World War II, although a specific military version was produced as the S.73M.
Sabena relied on a fleet of Fokker F.VIIb/3ms until they were replaced by Savoia-Marchetti S.73s.
Engine: 3 x Alfa Romeo 126 RC.10, 597kW
Max take-off weight: 10800 kg / 23810 lb
Loaded weight: 7300 kg / 16094 lb
Wingspan: 24.0 m / 79 ft 9 in
Length: 18.37 m / 60 ft 3 in
Height: 4.45 m / 15 ft 7 in
Wing area: 92.2 sq.m / 992.43 sq ft
Max. speed: 325 km/h / 202 mph
Ceiling: 7000 m / 22950 ft
Range: 1000 km / 621 miles
Crew: 4
Passengers: 18
All Aero 