WOW604 SM.73 Il Duce’s Personal Transport Aircraft

Description

The SIAI-Marchetti company were famous aviation manufacturers, especially during World War II, they designed and built a series of multi engine aircraft in the 1930s right through to the end of WW2. The first of these planes to make its appearance was a civil transport plane, the SM.73, which made its debut in 1934. This aircraft laid the foundation for a construction formula that proved sound for many years and resulted in some exceptionally fine planes. Some of the 73’s were requisitioned by the Italian air force and served throughout the war as troop transports. They were remarkably tough aircraft and were well liked by their crews

The prototype took to the air for the first time on June 4, 1934. A triple-engine low-wing monoplane, this aircraft had a wood-and-metal skeleton with fabric-and-plywood skin. This first model had a row of windows down both sides of the fuselage. The propellers were wood, four-blade for the central engine and two-blade for the side engines. The production model had a different arrangement of windows, and all the engines had three-blade metal propellers. The tail and rudder were also modified. The first engines were 600 hp Gnome Rhone Mistral 9K radials, and they were also installed in the first five production models, whose delivery to Sabena, the Belgian airline, began in 1935. Later a variety of engines were installed in the SM.73, including the 700hp Piaggio Stella X.RC, the 770 hp Wright Cyclone GR-1820, the 750 hp Alfa Romeo 126 RC, and the 615hp Waiter Pegasus II M2. All the variant models were outstanding in performance and cargo capacity. Some planes carried up to eighteen passengers and a five-man crew.

The SM.73 was a great commercial success. The first five planes, consigned to Sabena, flew the London-Paris-Brussels-Hamburg-Copenhagen-Malmo route, the line that connected Brussels with Lille and Ostend, and the London-Ostend run. The Italian Ala Littoria company bough about twenty SM.73s in various models, equipped withPiaggio, AIfa, Romeo, and Wright Cyclone engines. Ala Littoria flew the planes along the main routes of Europe, North Africa, and East Africa. The Avio Linee Italiane took six SM.73s. Three aircraft were sold to CSA, the Czechoslovakian airline, in 1937, and two more soon afterward. These were the only planes equipped with Waiter Pegasus II M2 engines. In 1937 seven SM.73s were built under licence in Belgium for Sabena, which used these aircraft on its toughest runs, on the route from Brussels to Elisabethville in what was then the Belgian Congo. These were modified SM. 73s that carried only eight passengers instead of the standard eighteen. This flight took almost two days: 44 hours flying time.

We have only 1 x 1/30 scale version of the SM.73 measuring 80cm wide by 61cm long in a cream interwar colour scheme, suitable as the personal transport for any Il Duce!

Priced at $1499 plus shipping, the TG/K&C/JJD figures and accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included. Club members can buy this model for the next few days $1399 plus postage.