Nearly a decade after the project first began, the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group has announced that its ambitious reconstruction of the legendary Savoia-Marchetti S.55X I-BALB is approaching completion. Originally launched in 2015 during celebrations marking the centennial of SIAI Marchetti’s founding, the effort was conceived as a tribute to one of the most remarkable feats in aviation history—the 1933 mass transatlantic flight led by Italo Balbo from Orbetello, Italy, to Chicago for the Century of Progress International Exposition. The project, supported by the Volandia Museum, the Gruppo ex Dipendenti SIAI, and several specialized aerospace workshops, was organized under the banner of the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group. Their goal was not merely to build a replica aircraft, but to recreate one of the most iconic symbols of Italian aviation achievement.
In July 1933, Balbo’s fleet of 24 S.55X flying boats crossed the Atlantic carrying 100 personnel, an undertaking that astonished the world and demonstrated a level of organizational and aeronautical capability few nations could rival at the time. The reconstruction of I-BALB serves as a tribute both to the aircraft itself and to the people who made that historic journey possible.
The aircraft was publicly displayed in unfinished form in 2023 during celebrations for the centennial of the Italian Air Force, where it attracted significant public attention as a work in progress. Since then, substantial advances have been made across nearly every section of the aircraft.
Among the most evocative recent additions is the completed cockpit. The reconstruction team meticulously recreated the pilot’s station, including the personal photo holders that once sat in front of Italo Balbo’s position. These display images of Balbo’s mother, wife, daughters, and son, preserving a deeply human connection to the famed air marshal. In one particularly meaningful moment, the wife of Balbo’s son Paolo—depicted at age three in one of the original cockpit portraits—was photographed holding the recreated photo frames.
(Image credit: Savoia Marchetti Historical Group)
Another major milestone has been the completion of the aircraft’s engine nacelle, a task made especially challenging by the limited availability of specialized sheet-metal fabrication equipment required for the work. The team also recreated the Garelli starter compressor and compressed-air cylinder mounted between the two engines, further enhancing the authenticity of the reconstruction.
One of the most technically demanding phases of the project involved constructing the aircraft’s two massive outer wing panels, each spanning approximately nine meters. Built entirely from wood, the wings were digitally redesigned in CATIA by Paolo Vicenzi, who generated DXF files used to produce the hundreds of individual structural components. Fabrication was carried out by Fabrizio Mastorgio’s Progetto 172. Following original Marchetti engineering drawings, the wing structure incorporates removable trailing-edge sections beginning at spar No. 3 to facilitate transport, as the wing chord exceeds six meters. The left wing panel has been fabric-covered, while the right side intentionally remains uncovered to display the aircraft’s intricate internal structure. Each wing panel is composed of one attachment rib, nine solid primary ribs designed to ensure buoyancy, 18 lightened ribs, seven secondary ribs, and 15 false ribs. The primary and secondary ribs alone consist of approximately 140 individual components, underscoring the extraordinary level of craftsmanship involved in the project.
For the members of the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group, the nearly completed I-BALB represents far more than the reconstruction of a historic aircraft. It stands as proof that a shared passion for aviation heritage—driven by enthusiasm rather than financial considerations—can achieve extraordinary results. As the final stages of the reconstruction continue, the group is also preparing a book dedicated to both the history of the S.55 and the story of the replica’s creation. The publication is expected to be presented later this September. The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 remains one of the most recognizable flying boats ever constructed, with its twin-hull configuration and distinctive engine arrangement still capturing the imagination of aviation enthusiasts around the world. Thanks to the dedication of the Savoia Marchetti Historical Group and its supporters, the legacy of Balbo’s historic Atlantic crossing is once again taking physical form.
