The Savoia-Marchetti SM.93 was an Italian

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

designed and produced in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

from 1943.

Design

The SM.93 was an all-wood single-engined low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage. The fuselage had a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

structure, with a single fin and low-set tailplane. The crew of two were accommodated under a long greenhouse-style canopy, with the pilot lying in a

prone position Prone position () is a body position in which the person lies flat with the chest down and the back up. In anatomical terms of location, the dorsal side is up, and the ventral side is down. The supine position is the 180° contrast. Etymology T ...

above the rear of the engine, a

Daimler-Benz DB 605 The Daimler-Benz DB 605 is a German aircraft engine built during World War II. Developed from the DB 601, the DB 605 was used from 1942 to 1945 in the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, and the Bf 110 and Me 210C heavy fighters. The DB 610, a pa ...

A liquid-cooled

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-Cylinder (engine), cylinder Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V engine, V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more c ...

, while the gunner/radio-operator sat facing rearwards on a conventional seat. The two-spar wings were in three parts with the inner wings sharply tapered to the join, outboard of the landing gear attachments, and the outer wings moderately tapered to the rounded wingtips.''Air International'' August 1982, p. 98. The prone position for the pilot was intended to enable the pilot to resist the onset of g-induced loss of consciousness, but the position was uncomfortable for normal flight and severely limited the rearwards view of the pilot.

Development

The SM.93 made its maiden flight on 31 January 1944, and up to 29 March 1944 the SM-93 had made 16 test-flights with speeds up to achieved in a dive, demonstrating the low drag and clean aerodynamics.

Operational history

Flight testing was carried out under the aegis of the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

and despite the good performance, the prone position was found to be unsatisfactory, being uncomfortable and restricting rearward vision. The programme was halted by the German control Commission that was running weapons production in the ''Repubblica Sociale Italiana'' - RSI after the 1943 armistice.

Specifications (SM.93)

References

* "Plane Facts: Unique dive bomber". ''

Air International ''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd. History and profile The magazine was fir ...

'', August 1982, Vol 23 No 2. p. 98. ISSN 0306-5634. {{DEFAULTSORT:Savoia-Marchetti Sm.93 SM.093 1940s Italian attack aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944 Prone pilot aircraft