Savoia Marchetti S. 55
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was one of the first airplanes to cross the Atlantic Ocean when the Santa Maria under Francesco de Pinedo made the crossing between Dakar, Senegal and Pernambuco, Brazil setting out on 13 February 1927; more than three months before Charles Lindbergh's first solo crossing. Pilots Francesco de Pinedo and Carlo del Prete took off from Sesto Calende, Italy, in an S-55 and headed west across the South Atlantic. Four months later they arrived back in Italy, having flown nearly 30,000 miles in 193 flying hours and having made just over 50 stops, including Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and New York City.
The Italian Air Marshall of the time, Italo Balbo soon became famous for organizing fleets of S.55s for Atlantic crossings, culminating in his 1933 flight with 24 aircraft to Chicago's Century of Progress International Exposition. On 1 July 1933 General Balbo commanded a flight of S-55s from Orbetello, Italy, completing the flight in just over 48 hours, maintaining a tight "V" formation. These large fleets of aircraft became so well known that even today a large formation is sometimes called a "Balbo".
(from wikipedia.com)
Comments and faves
Nick Peligno added this photo to his favorites. (40 months ago)
lazzo51 (31 months ago | reply)
There is a street in the South Loop in Chicago named Balbo after this event. Very few poeple know this in Chicago. Mussolini also donated a roman column that used to stand down in the far south end of Grant Park by Burham Harbor. This was where the '33 world's Fairgrounds were. I haven't been there recently but I did see it was still there after major road renovations of Lake Shore Drive a few years back.
amphalon (31 months ago | reply)
Interesting, thanks.
Tom
Spaudo added this photo to his favorites. (28 months ago)
Spaudo (28 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called AQUELLAS MAGNÍFICAS MÁQUINAS VOLADORAS, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
awa54, fondazza1943, it's called irony, and cetaylor added this photo to their favorites.
This photo was invited and added to the Aquellas Magníficas Máquinas Voladoras group.
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haraldrose_de (5 months ago | reply)
One of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed and built!
Pansing Family (5 months ago | reply)
Wonderful photo! But Balbo did not make it from Orbetello to Chicago in 48 hours. He stopped in Iceland for at least a couple of days. Then the route went to Labrador, New Brunswick, and to Montreal before they arrived in Chicago. From Orbetello, there were seven scheduled stops along the way, manned by crews of meteorologists, radiomen, etc. The original time estimate to Chicago was a week to ten days.