SIAI S.52

The SIAI S.52 was an Italian fighter prototype of 1924, designed by Alessandro Marchetti as a derivative of his earlier S.50 powered by the Hispano-Suiza HS 42 engine. It was a single-seat, all-metal biplane with its fuselage suspended between the upper and lower wings, a flattened rear fuselage that served as an airfoil, and two synchronised 7.7 millimetre Vickers machine guns. It was too late for the 1923 fighter contest and first flew in 1924. Two prototypes, MM.3 and MM.4, were built but no Italian production order followed. One was shipped to Latin America for demonstration flights, and Paraguay bought it in 1927, the first fighter the country had ever acquired, using it as a fighter trainer.