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Every bomber could be a dive bomber. Once.

Sometimes I think I'm being too mean about the Italian record in the second world war, and then this sort of thing comes up and I just wonder that they lasted so long

This must be Zapp Brannigan's most feared plane

Zapp Brannigan: My God! We're defenseless, like fish in a barrel.

Nixon: Options?

Zapp Brannigan: My instinct is to hide in this barrel, like the wily fish

Commander: What enemy unit did you hit?
Pilot: A sea bass, sir.
Commander: Was it ill-tempered?
Pilot: Very.
Commander: Well, it's a start.

It's like a dive bomber designed by someone who had never seen or even  heard of a dive bomber prior to the Regio Aeronautica saying "we would like you build a dive bomber."

Normally biased to find all Italian aircraft pretty, congratulations, you found one that totally makes me sick.

The little engines that couldn't.

I’m so glad you got around to doing the “Flying Banana.”

Everyone knows wood does so well when it's stored in a humidifier and then baked in a kiln 😂

As I read in an account of a german officer (Helmuth Mahlke) deployed to the Mediterranean, the first Picchiatelli (italian Stukas) were very cautious in dives, released too early and generally were ineffective. The experience with this type explains this as they were used to a plane that would probably break apart in what was a standard dive and recovery in a Stuka. It took some time to instill the confidence in the Ju 87 but then the italian pilots became as proficient as their german counterparts.

1:40 Or the Greek Army. The Regia Aeronautica in one (possibly apocryphal) episode attempted to carpet bomb Greek infantry entrenched on a mountain in December 1940 with so much intensity that they supposedly reduced the elevation by several meters, and the Greek soldiers still managed to suffer only light casualties.

One of the rare instances where I find myself unconcerned that there are no examples left.

holy cow, at nearly every design choice point they seem to have chosen the wrong one... thanks for the vid sir

5:21 ‐ Well, for the context, Sukhoi Su-2 (BB-1), part of an Ivanov (Иванов) program from more or less the same time, a single-engine combined reconnaissance/close bomber with a full turret in the back and an optional gun on the bottom designed to be very simple to produce and just as easy to learn, was capable of lifting 600kg of bomb load if required.

While SM.89 bomb load may seem "average" for that time, for a twin-engine design, it really wasn't something to write home about))

Fantastico! A true forgotten aircraft!
The only One that could compete with the Breda  Ba88.
Thanks for this video!

2:20 the biggest question I have from this video… is who thinks that’s how to use a paper clip?!

10:53 "Attempts were made." A perfect summary of this particular aircraft, from start to finish.

Another outstanding research delivered in an entertaining fashion.

The Regia Aeronautica would have been better off rejecting the type in the beginning and telling SM to go try again with a fresh design.