Savoia-Marchetti S.64

The Savoia-Marchetti S.64 was a large monoplane designed and built by Savoia-Marchetti in the late 1920s specifically to contest the world duration and distance records. It was developed in great secrecy, and its design stressed exceptional fineness, with cowlings, streamlining and extensive wind tunnel testing of scale models. It used an unusual pod-and-boom layout with the tail carried on two open truss structures, similar to the earlier S.55, and a single Fiat A.22T V-12 water-cooled piston engine mounted above the wing and driving a pusher propeller. Its maiden flight was on 3 April 1928, and on 31 May 1928 Arturo Ferrarin and Carlo Del Prete broke three world records in it by making 51 round trips between Torre Flavia and Anzio.