Savoia Marchetti SM.84 in Italian service
Developed as the successor to the SM.79, they were withdrawn from service before the last of the SM.79's.
In 1939 Savoia Marchetti started work on updating the SM.79 and flew the up-engined, twin-tailed SM.79bis in 1938. Further work redefined the fuselage and wings, and the production SM.84 was larger, more heavily armoured, and carried a greater warload than the SM.79. The type entered combat in February 1941 as both a bomber and torpedo bomber.
The performance of the SM.84 was unimpressive, with the aircraft not being as manoeuverable as the SM.79 and requiring greater skill to land. Evidently crews prefered the SM.79. Modifications to externally carry two torpedos lead to the SM.84bis model and production quickly switched. Meanwhile work on the SM.79 led to an upengined dedicated torpedo bomber version, which was superior to the SM.84, and the SM.84 drifted into irrelevance in the face of the massive numbers of SM.79's.
At the time of the Italian Armistice and German take-over, SM.84's were on both sides of the demarkation line. Some aircraft now served with the Italian Co-belligerent Air Force as transports.
The Germans captured about 100 aircraft, but did not impress them into Luftwaffe service, instead selling many to Slovakia.
A single SM.84 was modified as the SM.84ter with more powerful engines, but was written off in a crash in 1946, and by 1948 all aircraft had been retired.