Operational History
In June 1940, 96° Gruppo Tuffatori was relocated to Pantelleria, a small island off Sicily, in anticipation of attacks on Malta and the British Mediterranean fleet. The commander of the group, Maggiore Ercolano Ercolani, made it clear to the General Staff that in combat the performance of the aircraft was such that it would result in 100% losses. In order to prove his assertion, Ercolani volunteered to fly the aircraft himself. These aircraft still didn't suffer any losses until the transfer to Pantelleria, when one of them crashed to a wall, killing the pilot. The others carried out a few missions over the Mediterranean until the end of July, but were never involved in real combat.
The aircraft was soon withdrawn from service and scrapped, and the Regia Aeronautica was obliged to acquire Junkers Ju 87s from Germany which were rapidly introduced into service by the end of summer 1940. The differences in speed and other characteristics between the two aircraft was not great, apart from the availability of a rear gunner, but the Ju 87 was much more effective as a combat aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Savoia-Marchetti SM.85
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