Evening All,
Some years ago I was looking through the catalogue of Windsock DataFiles when I found the SIA SP 2/3. I had no idea of what it was but I could see that it was a pusher so of course I bought a copy and decided that I needed to add one of these to my small pusher collection. I have finally pushed this to the top of my list and completed the model for a GB on Britmodeller: Anything but Injection. This one only caused one problem which was to mould the upper part of the fuselage nacelle. I have made many push moulds but somehow i could not get this one right and was about to give up when I decided to try for a last time: you can see the result in the photos. The serial is from Arctic Decals, the remainder is scratch built and rigged with 40 SWG copper wire.
The Societa Italiano Aviazone was founded in July 1916 and was part owned by Fiat. The aircraft was designed by U. Savoja and O. Pomilio in 1915 and was based on the MF 14 which was in service with the Italian armed forces. The SIA SP 1 was first flown in the spring of 1916, with the SP 2 following in July. The design was based on the MF 14 but had a 200hp Fiat A10 engine which meant that the new type had a better speed and rate of climb that the French design.
It was intended that it be used for reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and to make the type more stable it had a large span with three wing bays. Unfortunately the large wing area made the type difficult to handle in the turbulent air conditions encountered in N Italy so a revised design with two bay wings was introduced as the SP 3. There were also changes made to the nacelle: the one on the model is the earliest version, later this was modified slightly, but latterly a nacelle with a vertical front and separate cockpits for the pilot and observer became standard.
124 SP 2's were delivered between the second half of 1917 and the second half of 1918, too late to be of real use to the services, although many machines were used at the front in 1917 because of a lack of more modern types. The majority seem to have been sent to home defence squadrons or training units where many were converted with dual controls.
When the prototype flew in 1916 it showed a great improvement over machines in use at the front, but production was delayed by shortages of raw materials and skilled labour in the factories. When it finally arrived with operational squadrons problems were encountered with broken or damaged propellors as stones were thrown up when the aircraft were taxiing. Eventually 4 squadrons were either partially or entirely equipped the the SP 2 and it saw action during the 10th battle of the Isonzo in 1917.
The machine depicted in the model was issued to 38a Squadriglia when it was mobilised in February 1917, but the fate of the aircraft is not known.
The only kits of the SIA are of the SP 3 variant: a 3D printed model in 1/144 scale from Shapeways and a 1/48 scale card model from Modelart.
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Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
