Savoia Marchetti S.M. 79 Sparviero 1/72 Scale Model

Italian S.M.79 Series II - This is a model of a medium level bomber that flew against the British on Malta during 1940. The S.M.79 originated from a civilian passenger plane but was Italy's primary bomber during the WWII. It first saw combat in Spain in 1937, when Mussolini sent planes and pilots to support the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. It's good performance there led Yugoslavia to order 45 of them in 1938. The S.M. 79Ks sold to Yugoslavia were fitted with with Alfa Romeo engines, like the Italian Series I models flown in Spain, Yugoslavian S.M. 79s saw action against the Axis invasion of April 1941. Most of the S.M. 79s used by the Italians during WWII, however, were Series II models, which entered service in 1939, and were fitted with more powerful Piaggio engines. About 1,300 S.M. 79s, including all variants, were produced.

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Italian S.M. 79 bis - This is a model of a torpedo bomber that flew in the air force of Mussolini's fascist puppet state, the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) against Allied ships in the Mediterranean Sea in 1944. When the Italians joined the war in June, 1940, they didn't have a torpedo bomber, but they discovered that the S.M. 79 Series II made a good one, and they used it effectively against the British in the Mediterranean. In early 1943 the S.M. 79 Series III, also called the S.M. 79 bis, entered service and its new features made the plane an even better torpedo bomber. They included engines that performed better at low altitudes, the deletion of the ventral gondola to improve aerodynamics, the installation of a large fuel tank in the rear fuselage for increased range, and flame-damping exhaust pipes for night missions. When the Italian government surrendered in September, 1943, most of the remaining S.M.79s were in northern Italy, which became German occupied territory. The ANR eventually put these planes to use, along with some new S.M.79s from production that continued in northern Italy until 1944.

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Romanian S.M.79 JRS B - The Italians sold twin-engined export versions of the S.M. 79, designated as S.M. 79Bs. The Iraqis bought 4 of them, powered by Fiat radial engines. These planes saw action against the British in May 1941. In 1938 Italy produced 24 S.M.79Bs for Romania powered by Gnome-Rhone radial engines. Romanian pilots liked the planes so the decision was made to acquire a license to build more of them in Romania. But the Gnome-Rhone engines had proven to provide insufficient power so it was decided to fit the new planes with more powerful Jumo inline engines. The difficulty of redesigning the plane's airframe to accomodate the inline engines resulted in the first 8 Jume-powered planes being built in Italy. These planes were designated as S.M. 79 JIS Bs. The Romanians subsequently built 72 of the Jumo-powered bombers and they were designated as S.M. 79 JRS Bs. The Jumo-powered planes began reaching the front lines in the fall of 1941. Romanian S.M.79Bs flew against the Soviets beginning in June 1941, and the survivors flew against the Germans after Romania switched sides and joined the Allies in late 1944.

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