Savoia-Marchetti S.55
| Savoia-Marchetti S.55 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| An S.55P of Aeroflot circa 1933 | |
| Role | Flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Savoia-Marchetti |
| Designer | Alessandro Marchetti |
| First flight | August 1924 |
| Introduction | 1926 |
| Retired | 1945 |
| Primary users | Società Idrovolanti Alto Italia (Savoia) Regia Aeronautica |
| Number built | 243+ |
| Variants | Savoia-Marchetti S.66 |
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was a double-hulled flying boat produced in Italy beginning in 1924. Shortly after its introduction, it began setting records for speed, payload, altitude and range.
The S.55 featured many innovative design features. All the passengers or cargo were placed in the twin hulls, but the pilot and crew captained the plane from a cockpit in the thicker section of the wing between the two hulls. The S.55 had two inline counter-rotating propellers, achieved by mounting the twin engines back to back. The engines were canted sharply at an upward angle. Two wire-braced booms connected the triple-finned tail structure to the twin hulls and wing.
Even though its design was unusual, the Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was a remarkably airworthy craft. In 1926, the S.55P prototype set 14 world records for speed, altitude and distance with a payload. The S.55's greatest successes, however, were its many flights between Europe and the Americas.
The Brazilian João Ribeiro de Barros and his crew of three made an Atlantic crossing in S.55 "Jahú" on 24 April 1927. Departing from Santiago Island, he crossed the Atlantic in "Jahú" and landed at Fernando de Noronha Island, Brazil.
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 made a number of early crossings of the Atlantic Ocean at a time when doing so was still a very risky and challenging venture, starting when the Plus Ultra, a Spanish Dornier Wal piloted by Ramón Franco, crossed from Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in January 1926, then Santa Maria under Francesco de Pinedo took off from Dakar, Senegal to Pernambuco, Brazil on 13 February 1927. This was three months before Charles Lindbergh's solo crossing, but nearly 8 years after Alcock and Brown had completed the first non-stop crossing in 1919 in a Vickers Vimy. After crossing the aircraft was traded to Brazil for coffee beans.
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Wikipedia