Savoia-Marchetti SM.89

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.89 was an attack aircraft designed by Alessandro Marchetti and built by Savoia-Marchetti, of which only one example, the prototype MM.543, was ever built. Although sometimes described as a bomber, its main armament was to be two 37 mm cannon, which made it more like a ground-attack and maritime strike aircraft such as the Bristol Beaufighter. It was an extrapolation of the earlier SM.84, using that aircraft's wings, rear fuselage and mixed construction with a completely redesigned nose that housed the weapons, since it had no nose engine, and a crew of only a pilot, a radio operator and a gunner. It was powered by two Piaggio P.XII radial engines, and the prototype made its first flight at Vergiate in September 1941.