Savoia-Marchetti SM.95 - Operational History

Operational History

The Armistice stopped the program, and the only two aircraft built at the time were requisitioned by the Germans and sent to Germany, where they flew with the Luftwaffe and were subsequently lost.

On 28 July 1945, a third example flew, used with a fourth (still unfinished at the end of the war) with the Aeronautica Militare. One was taken by the RAF. The service with A.M. started after April 1946. Alitalia bought six examples, in service from 1947. LATI bought three examples in 1949. Lastly, four SM.95s were bought by SAIDE. They were used on the Cairo-Rome-Paris route. The only military customer was AMI, which had five of them.

SM.95C was a development model. The first were produced with AR.128 RC.18, the third with A.R. 131 RC.14/50, the next examples had Bristol Pegasus 48 (1,005 hp), and LATI used even more powerful Twin Wasp R-1830 (1,217 hp). A final development, the SM.95S with a metal structure, was planned but not built.

The last SM.95 was completed on 18 November 1949, the last of twenty officially built. They had an unexceptional performance, even with PW engines, and had no pressurization at all, therefore they could not fly very high. The mixed construction did not last too long: the last flight was on 28 September 1954 (1950 with Alitalia).

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