Savoia-Marchetti SM.92

The Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 was an Italian heavy fighter of the Second World War based on the SM.88, intended to serve as a long-range fighter-bomber. It did away with the mid-wing crew nacelle of the SM.88 and placed its two-person crew solely in the left fuselage, and it was powered by two German Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines. Armament was to be three 20 mm cannon and five 12.7 mm machine guns, with up to 2,000 kg of bombs under the inner wing. Its complex and advanced structure made a working prototype hard to build, and its speed still fell short of the requirements. The prototype flew for the first time in October 1943 and logged over 21 hours of flying, was grounded for months after being mistaken for a P-38 and attacked by a Macchi C.205 in March 1944, and was destroyed by Allied bombing that year.