All the passengers or cargo were placed in the twin hulls, but the pilot and crew captained the plane from a cockpit in the thicker section of the wing, between the two hulls. The S.55 had two inline contra-rotating propellers, mounted in tandem.
The last remaining example is preserved in Brazil, at the TAM "Asas de um sonho" museum, at São Carlos, São Paulo.
you can see the best gallery of these at https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/savoia-marchetti-s-55.html?sortBy=relevant
I had forgotten that I'd posted about them once, but they were not easily recognizable in the poster art about Gemneral Balbo's flight to the 1933 'Century of Progress' World's Fair
See https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/02/in-1932-capt-lewis-yancey-piloted.html for Yancy's circumnavigation around South America, and the Auto Gyro flights around the Mayan pyramids in the Yucatan
in 1929, Yancey spoke at Dartmouth about his transatlantic flight, and what it took to arrange such a feat with airplane company, and engines https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1930/2/1/growth-of-aviation-at-dartmouth in the Green Flash https://www.historynet.com/flight-of-the-yellow-bird-and-the-first-transatlantic-stowaway/
With continued study, he achieved master mariner status and the title of Captain.
Yancey joined the United States Coast Guard in April 1925 and became interested in aviation and the science of navigation then.
His knowledge of air navigation put him in demand with pilots in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1927, he made his first transcontinental flight as co-pilot.
this reminds me of the 1920's Italian river racer https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/12/ok-somebody-tell-me-what-this-is.html
thank you Kim!
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