Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 Marsupiale

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 Marsupiale was an Italian bomber and military transport of the Second World War, a cantilever mid-wing trimotor with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It was developed from the SM.75 civil transport as a heavy bomber and military transport, larger than its parent, and the prototype first flew in 1939. Deliveries began in 1940, and 875 were built plus one prototype. Although it could carry up to four tonnes of bombs, it saw very limited use as a bomber; it was the foreign type used in largest number by the Luftwaffe, which flew several hundred as transports. In 1939 it set a world closed-circuit distance record of 10,000 kilometres. About 30 stayed in Italian service after the war, some until the early 1960s.