Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 in Hungarian service
Designed as a replacement for the SM.73, the SM.75 was Savoia-Marchetti's first airliner with a retractible undercarriage.
THe SM.75 served successfully in Italy, but only a single foreign customer purchased the aircraft, Hungary. Five aircraft were operated by the Hungarian airline MALERT before the second world war. With the start of hostilities the Hungarian aircraft were taken over by the Hungarian military for use as transports. Hungarian engineers militarised the aircraft, including fitting dorsal turrets and a forward dustbin turret.
The aircraft were allocated to the Hungarian paratroop force and were involved in the capture of strategic bridges as the Hungarian army advanced into Yugoslavia in April 1941.
However the lead aircraft of the attack group, carrying the commanding officer and the tactical documantation was lost in a crash immediately after take-off. The cause was never fully analysed, but was most proably due to an unsecured load sliding backwards on take-off, causing the aircraft to stall and crash.