Savoia-Marchetti SM.85 | The Dive Bomber That Couldn’t

Comments · 333

• RE

  @RexsHangar · 1 year ago · pinned

  Q&A / Request Section - Ask your questions, or post suggestions, here :)

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• VE

  @VersusARCH · 1 year ago

  Every bomber could be a dive bomber. Once.

  285

• TH

  @TheRealTburt · 1 year ago

  Commander: What enemy unit did you hit? <br>Pilot: A sea bass, sir.<br>Commander: Was it ill-tempered?<br>Pilot: Very.<br>Commander: Well, it&apos;s a start.

  109

• HA

  @HardThrasher · 1 year ago

  Sometimes I think I&apos;m being too mean about the Italian record in the second world war, and then this sort of thing comes up and I just wonder that they lasted so long

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• A0

  @A0130EX · 1 year ago (edited)

  This must be Zapp Brannigan&apos;s most feared plane <br><br>Zapp Brannigan: My God! We&apos;re defenseless, like fish in a barrel.<br><br>Nixon: Options?<br><br>Zapp Brannigan: My instinct is to hide in this barrel, like the wily fish

  220

• TH

  @thefez-cat · 1 year ago

  It&apos;s like a dive bomber designed by someone who had never seen or even &nbsp;heard of a dive bomber prior to the Regio Aeronautica saying &quot;we would like you build a dive bomber.&quot;

  143

• FI

  @firstcynic92 · 1 year ago

  The little engines that couldn&apos;t.

  35

• DR

  @drstevenrey · 1 year ago

  Normally biased to find all Italian aircraft pretty, congratulations, you found one that totally makes me sick.

  110

• TH

  @thejudgmentalcat · 1 year ago

  Everyone knows wood does so well when it&apos;s stored in a humidifier and then baked in a kiln 😂

  24

• EQ

  @eqdoktor1987 · 1 year ago

  I’m so glad you got around to doing the “Flying Banana.”

  74

• PE

  @petergray2712 · 1 year ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI67ockSbC8&amp;t=100">1:40</a> Or the Greek Army. The Regia Aeronautica in one (possibly apocryphal) episode attempted to carpet bomb Greek infantry entrenched on a mountain in December 1940 with so much intensity that they supposedly reduced the elevation by several meters, and the Greek soldiers still managed to suffer only light casualties.

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• JG

  @JGCR59 · 1 year ago (edited)

  As I read in an account of a german officer (Helmuth Mahlke) deployed to the Mediterranean, the first Picchiatelli (italian Stukas) were very cautious in dives, released too early and generally were ineffective. The experience with this type explains this as they were used to a plane that would probably break apart in what was a standard dive and recovery in a Stuka. It took some time to instill the confidence in the Ju 87 but then the italian pilots became as proficient as their german counterparts.

  16