SM.79 Bomb Bay detailed drawings

[RKC48]

I landed on STORMO whilst doing preliminary research for my stash collection of RA aircraft.

I'm currently building the 1/72 Italeri SM.79 as 253-3 in summer of 1940 - selected because the camo pattern, CMPR A3a, is a bit different to the "usual" style plus I found several decent colour photos of it.

I'm having difficulty finding decent drawings of the bomb bay components apart from the excellent colour sketch on page 51 of "ALI D'ITALIA 9/SIAI S.79" 1a parte. Does anyone know of a good large-scale cutaway or specific construction drawings of these components which I could refer to?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Richard

[Editor]

Hi Richard, Welcome to Stormo.

The guy you want to have a chat with is Bruno, he built a super detailed S.79 II (see the link below). Bruno is active in that thread, scroll to the bottom of the link and click "Contact" next to his name, then click "Send private message" or Bruno may reply here.

Airfix 1/72 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 II Aerosilurante Ace - cap. C. E. Buscaglia by Bruno Perfetto

[Bruno P]

Hi you all!
About Richard request I think that photos are better than drawings (exept for the original ones).
Anyway, the first reference is CMPR site wich includes Catalogo Nomenclatore and Manuale per il montaggio where are reported several pictures. (https://www.cmpr.it/MN%20-%20Savoia%20M ... M%2079.htm)
I also attach some images that I was able to take of the specimen preserved at the Caproni Museum in Trento in the mid-1990s.

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This photo was taken from the radio operator's station. There are several very interesting details. First of all, the colours: Grigio Mimetico is dominant, only partially covering the background Verde Anticorrosione in some places. In the foreground is shown the return of the control rods coming from the pedal board. The rods continue towards the tail, passing through the structure of the bomb holder.

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From the same station a view of the forward side of the structure of the bomb holder.

[Bruno P]

I'm sorry: I have some problem with attachment sizes (it tells me files are too large).

Another view:

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This photo was taken from the pointer's position and shows the port side of the fuselage: you can see a wooden cover which avoids any entanglement on the fuselage structure:

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Again the fuselage corridor seen from the radio engineer's station. In the background you can see the rise of the controls that went from the "typewriter" to the top of the bomb pylon for releasing the bombs:

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The same view but moved more towards the bomb bay:

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Another view of the corridor towards the engineer's station:

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The following two images were taken from the ground looking up through the open bomb hatches and show the starboard side internal structure:

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From the same position some images of the upper part of the bomb rack:

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[Bruno P]

Overall view of the upper part of the bomb rack:

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Other images of the bomb rack:

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The bomb bay open:

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The door opening/closing mechanism:

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One of the two doors: note the removable caps for the larger bombs that were sticking out

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More detail images. In the last one, that brass/rust colored tube was the one through which the wire antenna was lowered. However, it also had a less noble use, that is, it also served as a toilet:

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[Bruno P]

Some considerations: the photos were taken as mentioned in the mid-90s; the plane is preserved as it was returned by the Lebanese authorities to the Italian ones and many infrastructures are missing (e.g. the radios). The internal structure, however, is intact. On torpedo bombers everything that was not strictly essential was dismantled in order to increase flight autonomy, so I believe that these photos can be very useful for the reproduction of a torpedo bomber.
I hope I was helpful.
Greetings

Bruno

[RKC48]

Thanks to Grande Capo and especially Bruno for the immediate response!

Excellent pics, Bruno, to add to my references and for sure if I was building the torpedo bomber version these would be more than sufficient. However, I believe this 46 Stormo aircraft operating out of Pisa in the summer of 1940 was still in the original configuration as a bomber so it is the bomb tube structure I'm seeking better info on.

I studied the outstanding 1/48 builds of Paolo Carli and Richard Davenport plus looked at the aftermarket offerings but I would be happier with period photos or construction drawings. I would assume that there were variations in design anyway, as feedback from operational experience was incorporated. Maybe the best we can refer to are ALI D'ITALIA 9/SIAI S.79 1a parte, pages 44, 47, 48, 51.

Thanks again for your support, below is a pic of the work in progress.

Best regards,

Richard

[RKC48]

Further to my comments above, after studying more deeply Bruno's comments and especially the link to the Savoia Marchetti S.M. 79 "Manuale per il montaggio" I did find more detailed info so now it's clear that the bomber version I'm building will have the cestelli for 5 x 250kg bombs. Progress is being made!

Thanks again for your invaluable references, Bruno.

Best regards,

Richard

[Bruno P]

Hi Richard!
I will search further in my documentation to find the drawings you are looking for.
In the meantime I found a really interesting link about the recovery of a 250kg bomb basket from a wreck of an SM.79 near Rhodes.
Here is the link: https://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/fou ... -bomb-bay/

[RKC48]

Ciao Bruno!

That's an extremely useful article re the SM.79 found off Rhodes. With those pics plus the ones from your catalogo I have sufficient info to proceed.

Grazie e' buon modellismo!

Richard

[Bruno P]

Richard
here enclosed are some images from the book SM.79 Il Gobbo maledetto by L. Spaggiari/C. D'Agostino.
All the imeges come from manuals so there is no problem with copyright.
Probably you already have it.

Good SPARVIERO!!!!!!

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[RKC48]

Thanks for all your input, Bruno!

It's slow work, but I am making progress........