SM_79B torpedo bomber

[sunny91]

Speaker speak Italian..

Sunny

 

[ccheese]

Looks like the take off was in North Africa (or Lybia), but whose ships were
they after ?

Good Vid... Sunny

 

[Matt308]

Nice video, Sunny. I don't know why but I find the SM79 intriguing. Ugly, but intriguing.

 

[parsifal]

Looks like the take off was in North Africa (or Lybia), but whose ships were
they after ?

Good Vid... Sunny

The very first unit of the RA equipped with torpedo carrying SM-79s were formed from 8 a/c near Tobruk, around October 1940. They enjoyed immediate success, scoring a hit on the HMS SUFFOLK as I recall.

Thereafter the Italians set up torpedo squadrons as quickly as they could across the med, including Tripoli, Sardina and Sicily. other units were formed in the North, but I don't have a lot of information on them. There was still resistance within some elements of the RA leadership, some commanders still clung doggedly to the notion of high level bombing. moreover crews needed a certain amount of training to undertake these missions and the a/c also needed some modifications to carry the ordinance (but I don't know exactly what) .

SM79s were amongst the most effective torpedo carriers of the war, but laboured under an inability to concentrate in sufficient numbers to be decisive. They were helped along by the high quality of italian torpedoes, as compared to their german allies. For most of the war, the germans relied on Italian designed aerial torps, At some point the Germans started to build their own versions of these Italian designs.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for reopening a very old thread Michael. Like Matt(Oh, Matt...where for art thou?) I find the Sparrow oddly attractive. One thing that struck me was the altitude that the torpedo was released.


Geo

 

[parsifal]

which suggests a good solid dependable design in the contact pistol. The US Bliss Levitt design 9operating just from memory) required a drop height under 60ft and a launch speed under 150 knots from memory, or you risked smashing the trigger mechanism. Italian torps were fast, kept their depth pretty well but compared to the Japanese warheads just lacked a little stopping power