Heinkel He 111 or Savoia-Marchetti SM.79

Gnomey · 06-14-2006, 02:26 PM

Is that because you think it is better or because it is Italian...

Anyway both were good and I agree with Dogwalker's assessment. For torpedo operation I would take the SM-79, for night bombing the He-111 and for day bombing I would probably take the He-111 because of it's better bomb sight.

cheddar cheese · 06-14-2006, 02:27 PM

Bit of both. Dont forget the SM.79 had 3 radials and the He-111 2 inlines, making it more likely for the SM.79 to absorb more damage in that department...

Sal Monella · 06-14-2006, 02:33 PM

I have done some reading since this thread appeared and I have seen it mentioned several times that the SM.79 could absorb a lot of damage and still make it back to base.

Dogwalker · 06-14-2006, 03:10 PM

Pictures of punishment

aviationartstore.com/dal_corradini.htm

Sal Monella · 06-14-2006, 04:03 PM

I'm reading about torpedoes as well and much to my surprise, the Italians may have had the best torpedoes of the war, or at least superior to the German and American ones. I don't know about the British or Japanes ones.

The Germans apparently preferred using Italian torpedoes for aerial drops and the Americans studied the Italian torpedo design to improve theirs.

I think the Japs had good torpedos.

Anyone know anything about the British torpedos (besides the fact that when compared to the Italian ones, it was like a comparison of their crotch sausages - smaller but somehow still able to get the job done).

Picture of 2nd Lieutenant Dalmazio Corradini illustrating the supremacy of Italian torpedoes vis a vis the British.

Glider · 06-14-2006, 07:56 PM

The British Mk VIII was slightly slower than the Italian torpedo's 45 kts compared to 50 kts but carried an explosive charge that was about 35% larger than the Italian Torpedo.

Both were very good torpedo's

Dogwalker · 06-14-2006, 08:48 PM

I think up to 1943 British used the MK XII that had an almost identical warhead (175 kg TNT) and speed than the early italians, was lighter (702 kg), but had less range.
In early 1943 was introduced the heavier MK XV, but at that time italian torpedoes were already armed with 200 kg warheads.
However, they were of very similar class.

Jank · 06-14-2006, 11:41 PM

Sal, that was funny.

The Germans used several Italian torpedos, preferring them over their own. Examples of German torpedos that were actually Italian except by designation were the F5W, F5I and LT350.

The high speed Fiume torpedo so impressed the Japanese that they copied it for several of their own torpedoes. It had a 270kg warhead, could do 50 knots and had a range of 2-1/2 miles.