The SM.55 prototype established fourteen records. Francesco de Pinedo flew it around the world for a total distance of 27,230 miles (43,820 km). The plane set a series of endurance and distance records. And it made two Atlantic crossings in formation, in 1930 and 1933, with Italo Balbo at the controls. The SM.55 was world-famous from the middle 1920s until the middle of the 1930s. Alessandro Marchetti's plane was a remarkable aircraft.

The SM.55 appeared in 1924. The air force was looking for a torpedo-launching seaplane, and the designer found several original solutions for the technical problems that had to be met. It was a twin-hull flying boat, and the tail was supported by two booms extending from the hulls. The two engines were installed above the cenral section of the wing on a trellis-like structure. The cockpit was in the wing between the two hulls, while fuel tanks, radio, gun and sighting turret were housed in the hulls. Torpedoes or bombs were suspended from the lower side of the wing between the two hulls. Not only did the plane perform well on water and in the air, but it was designed in such a way that one could easily reach any part of the craft and, if necessary, replace the installations.

Nevertheless, the air force commission found the plane too unorthodox for its tastes, and two years went by before the aircraft's merits were fully appreciated. The Italian air force ordered the SM.55 in 1925 and was so satisfied with its performance that 170 models were manufactured beginning in 1926. There were several variant models, with different structural details and varying performance, weight, and size. In some cases more powerful engines were installed. There were three military versions, the A, M, and X models and two civilian versions, the C and P models. In place of armament and military equipment, the civilian models had room for nine to twelve passengers. These planes saw service, beginning in 1926, with the Aero Espresso company, the Societa Area Mediterranea (SAM), and the Ala Littoria. Until 1937 they flew Mediterranean routes.

The first of the SM.55s long-range flights took place in 1927. Francesco de Pinedo and Carlo Del Prete flew one of the first military SM.55s, the Santa Maria; the armament was removed and structural reinforcements were applied. At 7.35 on the morning of February 13 they took off from the seaplane port of Elmas, Sardinia, and flew to Africa, South America, and North America. Because of the negligence of one of the spectators in New Orleans, the Santa Maria caught fire and burned. The return flight was made aboard another SM.55, which touched down in Rome on June 16. A total of 28,000 miles (43,820 km) had been flown across four continents. In 1928 another flight across the South Atlantic was made with the Brazilian fliers Braga and De Barros aboard. In June of the same year Umberto Maddalena and Stefano Cagna took part in the search for the wreck of Umberto Nobile's dirigible in the polar region. In May and June Italo Balbo and Francesco De Pinedo undertook the first mass air cruise in history: sixty-one planes flew more than 1,700 miles (2,800 km) across the Mediterranean. A second group flight in the eastern Mediterranean was made the following year, logging 2,900 miles (4,667 km).

But the SM.55 is probably most famous for the two trans-Atlantic flights of 1930 and 1933. On December 17, 1930, four squadrons of three aeroplanes - with two in reserve - set off from Orbetello under the command of Italo Balbo. The fourteen planes, all SM.55As, reached Rio de Janeiro on January 15, 1931, after flying 6,400 miles (10,400 km) at an average speed of 115 mph (185 km/h). The 1933 flight was in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Italian air force. Twenty-five SM.55Xs, again under the command of Italo Balbo, flew from Orbetello to New York and back to Rome. They flew 12,300 miles (19,800 km) in this double crossing of the North Atlantic.

This is the S.55 flown by Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo (February 16, 1890 – September 2, 1933). In 1927, with Carlo Del Prete and engineer Vitale Zacchetti, de Pinedo flew this Savoia-Marchetti S.55 named "Santa Maria" from Elmas (Sardinia, Italy) to the Cape Verde Islands, to Buenos Aires and finally reaching Arizona. The flight to Arizona was part of a "Four Continents" flight in 1927 made by de Pinedo and a small crew using a single S.55. The plane departed from Cagliari, Sardinia and flew to the Spanish Sahara and then onto Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and through the Caribbean and across the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana, Texas and Arizona where a teenage volunteer helping to refuel the Santa Maria discarded a cigarette igniting gasoline on the water's surface destroying the aircraft. A new plane identical to the orginal and named "Santa Maria II" completed the eventual route covering 29,180 miles (46,960 km) in 124 days. A distinctive feature of this plane was the steeply sloped canted engines in the event of an engine loss that made the aircraft more controllable, although speed was affected. The canted engines also provided greater lift, given the heavy fuel loads these planes carried.

A Quick Look Inside the Kit DW72015:

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