Savoia-Marchetti SM.92

History

During World War II (1939-1945) it was fairly common to join two airframes into a completely new design - both Americans and Germans tried it out with several notable designs . The benefits of this design effort are increased range, firepower, and straight-line performance, often at the expense of maneuverability, weight, and precious materials of war. One of the classic examples of this connection is the North American F-82 "Twin Mustang" in the United States, which is paired with the fuselage of the two P-51 fighter jets along a common central wing main aircraft element and tail stabilizer. One of the lesser known joint fighter developments of the war became the Italian design - the twin-engine, twin-arm, twin-crew Savoia-Marchetti SM. 92 - Heavy fighter based on an early twin-engine, single-arm, three-man SM.

88, of which only one was built. Same as SM. 88. S.M. The 92 also only appears in one complete example in 1943, which was destroyed by Allied airstrikes before the end of the war.

SM. The 92 used an asymmetrical cockpit layout, with two crew members sitting side by side under a common canopy on the port fuselage (as opposed to the two separate cockpits on the F-82, one in each fuselage) . The two crew consisted of the pilot and a dedicated rear gunner. Both hulls are fitted with DB 605 series liquid-cooled supercharged V12 engines from Daimler-Benz (1,290 hp each) front (driving the three-bladed propeller) and rear vertical rudder. The two halves of the aircraft are connected by a common central wing main aircraft and a common tail. The main planes of the outboard wings are symmetrical and remain forward of the midship. The landing gear was in a "trailer" arrangement, with the main legs fixed under each fuselage section and a single tail wheel mounted under the tail stabilizer unit.

Dimensions include a length of 13.7 meters, a wingspan of 18.5 meters and a height of 4.15 meters. The performance of the twin-engine, twin-hull arrangement yields a top speed of 382 mph, a range of up to 1,245 miles and a service ceiling of up to 39,360 feet.

Regarding the armament of heavy fighters, SM. The 92 shouldn't disappoint. 2 x 20mm MG 151 (Germany) guns were mounted on the central wing main plane, the third on the starboard fuselage.

A 12.7mm Breda SAFAT heavy machine gun is mounted under each engine, and a third is mounted on the rearward facing rear stabilizer unit (controlled remotely to engage any trailing interceptors). In addition to its fixed armament, the SM-92 is intended to carry over 4,400 pounds of conventional air-dropped munitions under the center-wing main aircraft and an additional 350 pounds of ammunition under each outboard-wing main aircraft.

SM. The 92 was developed to meet the requirements of the Italian Air Force for a new two-seat multirole fighter. Wings, tails and booms of an early SM. For convenience, 91 were retained and a twin-hull, twin-boom plan was used to harness the power of two engines and double the internal storage space. The aircraft is expected to demonstrate the performance required of a fighter jet with more penetration than conventional fighter jets can provide. Building an airworthy prototype was slow and complicated, and the first flight was not recorded until October 1943.

Performance proved slower than expected, but this example still recorded over 20 flight hours (though the design was never fully completed). an examination). In September 1943, the Italians surrendered to the Allies, but this left the SM behind. 92 in the hands of the Axis powers.

In March 1944, the prototype was used by an Axis pilot who mistook the plane for an Allied Lockheed P-38 "Lightning" - an American-built fighter jet that also used a dual-arm configuration , but the cockpit has only a central nacelle. While the prototype survived the frantic maneuver, it was filled with enough bullets that the damage caused it to remain grounded for extended periods of time while repairs were made.

After this, the only prototype was lost when Allied bombs were dropped on its area of ??control - completely destroying it and ending its attempts to meet Italian Air Force requirements.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Dimensions

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Performance

Performance

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