World War II: Torpedo Bombers

The SIAI S.79 ‘Sparviero’ (sparrowhawk) is one of the Italian Royal Air Force’s best planes, with about 1,300 built. Initially designed for passenger transport use, it is then adapted for war as a medium bomber starting in the Spanish war. During WWII, however, this plane, nicknamed ‘gobbo maledetto’ (damned hunchback) due to its fuselage’s distinctive dorsal ‘hump’ where the machine-gunner sits, works well as a torpedo bomber. The S.79 achieve notable successes in air and sea operations in the Mediterranean and, thanks to the ventrally-placed torpedo, succeed in hitting and sinking quite a few enemy ships. In 1940-1943, in fact, the Buscaglia and Faggioni squadrillas make the headlines. The Savoia Marchetti SM.84, the S.79’s successor, never fully replaces it.