SIAI S.51

The SIAI S.51 was an Italian racing flying boat built by Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia for the 1922 Schneider Trophy race at Naples, and is also known as the Savoia S.51 or Savoia Marchetti S.51. It was a single-seat sesquiplane powered by a 300 horsepower Hispano-Suiza 8F V8 engine mounted on N struts above the hull, driving a pusher propeller. The aircraft capsized during seaworthiness trials, was righted and completed the race flown by Alessandro Passaleva, taking second place behind the British Supermarine Sea Lion II by 2 minutes 22 seconds at an average of 229.57 km/h. On 28 December 1922 Passaleva set a world speed record for seaplanes of 280.155 km/h in it. SIAI later based the hull of its S.58 fighter on the S.51 hull.