Start here
A few places to begin, from the aircraft’s story to the people who fly it.
Meet the aircraft
The S.55 carries its payload in two boat hulls joined by a broad wing. A centreline tractor-and-pusher engine installation sits above the wing, while twin booms support the tail.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗A departure crowd adds pressure to an already difficult morning
Balbo disliked having officials and spectators waiting for a departure. In Reykjavik he felt their presence made postponement harder, even before the flying boats attempted to take off. His account describes two unsuccessful runs, rising engine-water temperatures and a puzzled exchange with Cagna. The crew returned to the mooring and compared their experience with the other aircraft.
Commander and pilot of the 1933 S.55X expedition, flying with Stefano Cagna. His memoir also served the Fascist regime’s propaganda; this selection concerns his reported experience at Reykjavik.
Italo Balbo / Liber Liber · Read more ↗Find the options board beside the copilot’s seat
Click its upper edge to open it. Controls include insect removal, blue highlights, window refraction and pushback.
S.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Microsoft Flight Simulator · 2 min ·
Microsoft Flight Simulator | Local Legend 4: Savoia-Marchetti S.55
Microsoft introduces its Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying-boat package.
Simulator · Microsoft Savoia-Marchetti S.55 · MSFS
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet Savoia-Marchetti S.55
The S.55 carries its payload in two boat hulls joined by a broad wing. A centreline tractor-and-pusher engine installation sits above the wing, while twin booms support the tail.
The aircraft served military and commercial operators and became associated with long-distance formation flights. Its two hulls and overhead engines distinguish it from conventional single-hull flying boats.
Savoia-Marchetti S.55
Aircraft type designators
A model-specific ICAO or FAA designator has not been confirmed in the references reviewed for this aircraft.
History & design
Development milestones
Designer: Alessandro Marchetti
First flight: August 1924
Wikipedia contributors · Savoia-Marchetti S.55 ↗Savoia-Marchetti S.55 · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1355938055
Pilot accounts
A departure crowd adds pressure to an already difficult morning
Balbo disliked having officials and spectators waiting for a departure. In Reykjavik he felt their presence made postponement harder, even before the flying boats attempted to take off. His account describes two unsuccessful runs, rising engine-water temperatures and a puzzled exchange with Cagna. The crew returned to the mooring and compared their experience with the other aircraft.
A later attempt by another crew, facing the breeze, supplied the explanation they accepted. The expedition postponed its departure. Balbo then struggled to sleep because the blankets that had darkened his hotel room were already packed away. The next morning brought a successful takeoff, followed by cloud and fog over the Atlantic. His attention turned to pressure reports and keeping track of the other aircraft.
Commander and pilot of the 1933 S.55X expedition, flying with Stefano Cagna. His memoir also served the Fascist regime’s propaganda; this selection concerns his reported experience at Reykjavik.
Read the full account · Italo Balbo / Liber Liber ↗A confident crossing ends beside a ship
Barros told reporters that the crowd at Porto Praia had doubted the attempt. Jahu’s first takeoff run, with its crew and fuel aboard, changed that mood to cheers. He remembered the crew remaining enthusiastic through the long flight over the Atlantic, with the engines responding as they expected.
A damaged propeller interrupted the crossing before they reached the mainland. Barros described putting the flying boat down beside the ship Angelo Toso, comparing the landing with arriving on a lake. He understood how much depended on that arrival going well. The ship’s captain promptly organised assistance, and the crew were welcomed aboard. His interview moves from confidence at departure to gratitude for help at the end of the flight.
Interview reported from Fernando de Noronha after the April 1927 Jahu crossing. The original newspaper scan was checked; its performance records and detailed propeller-failure explanation are not adopted.
Read the full account · O Dia / Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil ↗Searching the ice becomes an exercise in frustration
Maddalena described the strain of searching for people whom his crew could not see. He named Cagna, Rampini and Marsano alongside himself, all looking out with growing frustration. His recollection conveys the helplessness of being airborne and searching hard while still failing to locate the survivors.
The association places those words in the S.55 mission sent to find Nobile and the others after the airship Italia accident. Its account records the eventual sighting on 20 June 1928. The short passage preserves a pilot’s view of the search before that success, when the immediate problem was finding the people on the ice. The sighting became part of a wider rescue effort.
Brief recollection quoted in the association’s history of Stefano Cagna. S.55 search for survivors of the airship Italia in June 1928; this is not a complete flight-test report.
Read the full account · Associazione Gente del 15° ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
Compare simulator versions →MSFS 2024S.55
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
S.55
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2020S.55 / S.55X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
S.55 / S.55X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 16.5 m (54 ft 2 in) |
| Wingspan | 24 m (78 ft 9 in) |
| Height | 5 m (16 ft 5 in) |
| Wing area | 92 m² (990 sq ft) |
| Empty weight | 5,750 kg (12,677 lb) |
| Max takeoff weight | 8,260 kg (18,210 lb) |
| Powerplant | 2 × Isotta Fraschini Asso 500 V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 370 kW (500 hp) each mounted in tandem, plus one Garelli piston engine driving oil distribution placed between the two main engines |
| Propellers | 2-bladed fixed pitch tractor and pusher propellers |
| Maximum speed | 205 km/h (127 mph, 111 kn) |
| Stall speed | 105 km/h (65 mph, 57 kn) |
| Range | 1,200 km (750 mi, 650 nmi) to 2,200 km (1,400 mi; 1,200 nmi) |
Manuals & resources
Find your next read
Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
Find the options board beside the copilot’s seatS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Click its upper edge to open it. Controls include insect removal, blue highlights, window refraction and pushback.
MSFS 2024 features · PDF pages 20–21
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Cockpit EFB placement depends on the variantS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Only the modernised S.55X has the cockpit EFB. The historical variants retain access to the simulator’s separate 2D EFB.
MSFS 2024 features · PDF page 22
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗A basic simulator autopilot beside the historical cockpitS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
The S.55 pilot's guide identifies pitch-trim indication and an optional basic simulator autopilot on the options board. The latter is optional simulator equipment, not part of the original inter-war flying boat.
Archived simulator manual; installed package revision not observed · PDF pp.10,20
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Exit onto the wing for the walkaroundS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
With engines off and almost stationary, click the seat back to exit. Open the S.55X canopy first.
MSFS 2024 features · PDF pages 17–18
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗The anchor has specific deployment conditionsS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Deploy on water below 10 knots with both engines off. Breaking a condition retracts it; weather-vaning remains possible.
MSFS 2024 features · PDF pages 19–20, page 20 visually checked
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Read the Husun compass by combining two numbersS.55 · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024 / MSFS 2020
The numbered needle supplies hundreds of degrees; the top arc supplies the remainder. The illustrated example combines 2 and 60 for 260 degrees.
Guide 2.0.7, 12 August 2026 · both simulator editions, PDF page 12
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Pilot account
A departure crowd adds pressure to an already difficult morningCommander and pilot of the 1933 S.55X expedition, flying with Stefano Cagna. His memoir also served the Fascist regime’s propaganda; this selection concerns his reported experience at Reykjavik.
Balbo disliked having officials and spectators waiting for a departure. In Reykjavik he felt their presence made postponement harder, even before the flying boats attempted to take off. His account describes two unsuccessful runs, rising engine-water temperatures and a puzzled exchange with Cagna. The crew returned to the mooring and compared their experience with the other aircraft. A later attempt by another crew, facing the breeze, supplied the explanation they accepted.
Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo / Liber Liber · Read the source ↗A confident crossing ends beside a shipInterview reported from Fernando de Noronha after the April 1927 Jahu crossing. The original newspaper scan was checked; its performance records and detailed propeller-failure explanation are not adopted.
Barros told reporters that the crowd at Porto Praia had doubted the attempt. Jahu’s first takeoff run, with its crew and fuel aboard, changed that mood to cheers. He remembered the crew remaining enthusiastic through the long flight over the Atlantic, with the engines responding as they expected. A damaged propeller interrupted the crossing before they reached the mainland. Barros described putting the flying boat down beside the ship Angelo Toso, comparing the landing with arriving on a lake.
João Ribeiro de Barros
O Dia / Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developers Savoia-Marchetti S.55 ManualMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
Savoia-Marchetti S.55Wikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1355938055 · retrieved 2026-09-12Resource
MSFS 2024 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoftDeveloper documentation
Local Legend IV: Savoia-Marchetti S.55Microsoft Flight Simulator Team · 2022-06-02 · release and package scopeBuilt-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 2 profile choices
Savoia-Marchetti S.55
Free and Pro · Revision 2 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Savoia-Marchetti S.55: The profile supplies the twin-hull flying boat’s selected control resistance.
Savoia-Marchetti S.55X
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
Savoia-Marchetti S.55X: The profile supplies the twin-hull flying boat’s selected control resistance.
Discuss this aircraft (0)
Questions, observations and useful sources from the community.
No published discussions yet. Bring a question or share a useful source.
Open aircraft discussions →Content expanded · What’s new
Something missing or a source that needs attention?
Suggest a correction ↗
