SIAI S.52

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The SIAI S.52 was an Italian fighter prototype from 1924 designed by Alessandro Marchetti for SIAI. It was developed from the S.50 and used the Hispano-Suiza HS 42 engine.

Design and features
- Type: single-seat, all-metal biplane
- Fuselage mounted between the upper and lower wings, with the rear fuselage flattened into an airfoil section
- Very thin, semi-elliptical wings larger than the S.50, using ailerons for roll control
- Conventional tail with fixed and moving surfaces
- Armament: two fixed 7.7 mm Vickers machine guns firing through the propeller

Operational history
- Engines and power: HS 42 engine; two-bladed propeller
- Prototypes: two built (MM.3 and MM.4); first flight in 1924
- No production order followed
- 1925 plan to re-engine one prototype with a 410 hp Fiat A.20 engine (top speed ~177 mph) never happened

Paraguay connection
- One prototype was sent to Latin America for demonstrations
- In 1927, a flight from Argentina to Paraguay occurred
- Paraguay bought the S.52 in 1927, making it their first fighter and only one until 1928
- Paraguayan serial number: 16, assigned in 1932
- Used as a fighter trainer at Ñu-Guazú; did not take part in the Chaco War
- Destroyed in an accident on 8 May 1933 at Ñu-Guazú airfield; pilot Emilio Rocholl survived