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).   A fleet of six S.71s was used, including the prototype, I-AAYP seen above. Below
                                    is a colorized reproduction of the same photograph from a John Player & Sons cigarette card set of
                                    International Air Liners, 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 taken  from pamphlets, brochures, old maga-
                                    zines 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 examples from real photographs.