I-AAYP  Savoia-Marchetti S.71                        (c/n unknown)

                                 

                                    Societa Aerea Mediterranea (SAM) was founded in 1926, with service from Rome to Brindisi and
                                    later across the Adriatic to Albania and, indeed, within Albania itself (probably a better service than
                                    they have today).   After the success of its flying boats, primarily the S.55 and S.66, the Societa
                                    Indrovolanti Alta Italiana (aka Savioa-Marchetti) began producing what would turn out to be a long
                                    line of three and four engine transports.   The first of these was the S.71.  SAM operated six of them,
                                    including the prototype, I-AAYP seen above. Below is a colorized reproduction of the same photo-
                                    graph from a John Player & Sons cigarette card set of the International Air Liners set, put out in 1938. 
                                    In 1934, SAM combined with Navigazione Aerea (SANA) and Societa Italiana Servizi Aerei (SISA)
                                    to form Ala Littoria, the Italian national airline before WW II.  Most of the S.71s passed to the new
                                    airline.  Since Ala Littoria was not resurrected (as such) after WW II, and since I did not commence
                                    writing to airlines for photographs until 1947/48, the only shots I have of pre WW II Italian civil aircraft
                                    will all have been culled from pamphlets, brochures, old magazines and cigarette cards. i.e. newly formed
                                    Alitalia and LAI were unable to provide me with any historic photographs unlike, say, Swissair.
                                    However, I will include the images I do have in my scrapbook for historical completeness, rather than
                                    as good examples from photographic prints.