Savoia-Marchetti S.M.82 Canguro

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This was quite an outstanding aircraft for its day. Even the Luftwaffe could see it was better than their own Ju.52 as a transport. It was vulnerable to attack due to its low ceiling and lack of adequate defensive armament. In 1942, one of these aircraft flew from Rome to Tokyo taking 4 days each way to fly the distance of 16,200 total miles.

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Disastrous Bomber? It was not that disaster. Some Sm.82 performed the longest range bombing mission of the entire WW2. They took off from Rodi(Rhodos,now Greece) bombed a refinery in Bahrein and then landed in Eritrea.
But being originally designed as a transport and the project was emergency converted (being the war approaching) into a bomber it was a better transport but still a decent bomber, probably better than it was reasonable to expect.
I have no confirmed sources(and sounds me really strange) but I heard that only transport units were equipped with it, giving them also bombing capabilities.
Anyway i confirm that some planes were adapted for 3 special transport roles to transport disassembled complete Cr.42 fighters, L3 light-tanks /tankette, and spare engines to the Italian Eastern Africa (A.O.I.). Apart being heavy and bulky, consider also that the route was long(too long for a fighter transfer flight), much in unsafe /unfriendly skyes and with limited chance of refuelling since AOI was under "siege" by sea and land.
These solutions and the adventures of this Units are told by an interesting book "S.A.S. servizi aerei speciali della Regia Aeronautica(Special Air Services of the Royal Italian Air Force)- Massimo Civoli"

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After some lengthy research into the topic of A /C used in S.A., I have an qustion about the 4 similar machine made an used by S.M.-1938-1941. The subject of pontoon affixing is in involved. One of the 4 machines did appear on floats, The SM-87, as seen in Jane's 1938-39 vol. I think the SM-82 may also have appeared in the floatplane configuration with in the same time frame. The five which left the region are the ones in question. Please contact, if there is data about the SM-82 on floats.

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This plane is somewhat scary,dunno why.

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Yes. It could carry a complete CR.42 or G.50 or MC.200 fighter inside. About 30 planes were in charge after WWII and until the end of '50s as transport (46a Brigata Aerea Trasporti) powered by 3 P.W. Twin Wasp engines.
About power, you must consider that SM.75 had the same power of previous SM.81 carrying double payload. So, the SM.82 (derived from SM.75) with a little more power made the miracle!

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I read somewhere that this beast could cary a dismantled fighter plane! What...fueselage + wings? If true, it should have been a champion transport though a disastrous bomber. The take-off weight seems high for the engine power. Is there any information on numbers produced and operational roles?

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