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The original company was founded
in 1915 as SIAI (Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia - Seaplane
company of Northern Italy). After World War I it gained the name
Savoia, when it acquired the Società Anonima Costruzioni
Aeronautiche Savoia, an Italian aircraft company founded by Umberto
Savoia in 1915.
The name Marchetti was added
when chief designer Alessandro Marchetti joined the company in
1922. Savoia-Marchetti gained prominence with the successful
S.55 flying boat. Savoia-Marchetti became famous for its flying
boats and seaplanes, which set numerous endurance and speed records.
Favoured by Air Marshal Italo Balbo, the company began rapidly
prototyping and developing a number of other aircraft, increasingly
focusing on warplanes in the lead-up to World War II. However,
most of S.M.'s manufacturing capabilities were destroyed in World
War Two. It was renamed SIAI-Marchetti in 1943.
SIAI-Marchetti only survived
in postwar Italy by building trucks and railway equipment.[citation
needed] However it still struggled with insolvency for six years
after the war before declaring bankruptcy in 1951. In 1953, the
company reopened. It began to focus increasingly on helicopters
in the 1970s and was eventually purchased by the aerospace firm
Agusta in 1983. |
