SIAI-Marchetti

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SIAI Marchetti SF 260 in the original (Bj. 1967) and as a flight model

SIAI-Marchetti was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. From 1922 to 1944 the company was called Savoia-Marchetti . In 1983 the company was bought by the helicopter manufacturer Agusta , and in 1997 the Leonardo Finmeccanica group incorporated it into the aircraft manufacturer Aermacchi .

history

The company was founded on August 12, 1915 in Milan under the name Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia ( SIAI ) by Luigi Capè and Raffaele Conflenti. Initially, it focused on the license building of flying boats for the British-French company Franco-British Aviation Company (FBA). During the First World War, they developed their first own models based on French designs.

In 1920 the aircraft company Società Anonima Costruzioni Aeronautiche Savoia was taken over and in the years that followed it operated as SIAI-Savoia , the various aircraft models were given the letter S. In 1921 Raffaele Conflenti became technical director of the new French company Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine (CAMS), which produced the SIAI Savoia models S.9, S.13 and S.16 under license.

In 1922, Alessandro Marchetti was hired as the new chief engineer, who had a decisive influence on the company's work for a long time. He had presented the first drafts for land aircraft at Vickers-Terni , including the Marchetti Vickers-Terni (MVT) biplane , which he realized at SIAI-Savoia as SIAI S.50.

Over time, the name Savoia-Marchetti became common for the company. From 1937, the company's aircraft were given the abbreviation SM, which corresponded to the general trend in Italy to name the aircraft after the company and the responsible designer.

In the pre-war years, Marchetti's machines gained general recognition due to the long-haul flights of Italian aviation pioneers such as Francesco De Pinedo and Italo Balbo , which had a very positive effect on the order books. During the Second World War, Savoia-Marchetti manufactured the best Italian bomber with the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 “Sparviero”.

In 1944, the company remembered its roots again and adopted the name SIAI-Marchetti , which also put it at a distance from the Savoy royal family . After overcoming a severe financial crisis in the post-war years, thanks to the work of the new chief designer Stelio Frati , the SF.260 training aircraft was a great success. This was followed, among other things, by the S 211 Jettrainer , which was also able to achieve minor export successes.

SIAI-Marchetti was gradually taken over by the Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta from 1970 . In 1997 Agusta, and with it SIAI-Marchetti, joined the Finmeccanica group. Finmeccanica incorporated the traditional company into the equally traditional company Aermacchi , which came to Alenia in the course of further restructuring . The SIAI Marchetti products, such as the SF.260 and the S.211, are now being sold under the name Alenia Aermacchi . The S.211 was temporarily called M-211 after the takeover, then M-311 after a revision, and since 2012 Alenia Aermacchi M-345 . It complements the Aermacchi MB 339 and the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 .

Models

SIAI

Savoia-Marchetti

The first machines in the list below are sometimes referred to as SIAI-Marchetti.

SIAI-Marchetti

See also

Web links

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