Savoia-Marchetti p.57

Savoia-Marchetti p.57
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Type:	Flying boat
Design country:	Italy
Manufacturer:	SIAI Savoia
First flight:	1924
Number of pieces:	21st

The Savoia-Marchetti S.57 was a reconnaissance flying boat that was commissioned by the Italian Navy (Regia Marina). It was mass-produced.

history

In 1923 the Regia Marina placed an order with SIAI to procure a new, more powerful reconnaissance flying boat for the coasts of Italy. The specifications of the Regia Marina included an electricity supply through a generator for a searchlight, as well as for a radio, a camera and a possibility to carry a machine gun. Alessandro Marchetti developed a single-engine double-decker flying boat and named the project Savoia-Marchetti S.57. After SIAI presented the concept of the S.57 to the Regia Marina, an order for two prototypes was awarded to SIAI with decree 11/09 on September 3, 1923 . The first machine was handed over to the Regia Marina in January 1924 and tested from May 1924 to June 1925. This was followed by an order for 18 S.57 machines for the Regia Marina. A copy was delivered to the military attaché at the embassy in Buenos Aires, which was sold to Argentina a little later and put into service under the name HC1.

technology

The S.57 was a double-decker flying boat with a flat-bottomed wooden hull that was reinforced with metal. It had an open cockpit in which a pilot and a navigator, who was also an observer and machine gunner, could sit one behind the other. As with its predecessors, the engine was attached to the center of the upper wing. Worth mentioning is the V-shaped tail unit, the reinforced construction of the wings and an aileron on the upper wing. The engine of the prototypes was an Isotta Fraschini V6 engine with 250 HP and a two-bladed propeller, this was later exchanged for a Hispano-Suiza -42 engine with 300 HP. With a Fiat A 20 engine, which was retrofitted later, the S.57 reached a speed of 255 km / h, but this version was no longer completed in series.

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	2
length	approx. 8 m
span	11.25 m
height	approx. 2.55 m
Wing area	unknown
Empty mass	unknown
Takeoff mass	1605 kg
drive	an Isotta Fraschini V6, 250 HP (approx. 180 kW), 2-blade propeller
Cruising speed	approx. 145 km / h
Top speed	approx. 215 km / h
Range	765 km
Armament	1 to 2 Fiat 7.7 mm (.303)

Users

•  Italy : 20
•  Argentina : 1

Individual evidence

• Bignozzi / Gentili: Aeroplani SIAI 1915/1935 , Ed.AI
• G. Evangelisti: Gente dell'aria , Olimpia
• A. Curami, G. Gambarini: Catalogo delle Matricole Militari della Regia Aeronautica 1923/1943

photos

• [1] p 57
• [2] p 57

Web links

• Documentation of the SIAI p.57 with pictures in Spanish
• Documentation of the SIAI p.57 with pictures in Italian