Perhaps its most prominent early aircraft was the SIAI S.16, a seaplane that had been configured to perform both aerial reconnaissance and bomber roles, but also proved itself quite capable of long-distance flights.
Having departed Rome on 21 April, Pinedo and his mechanic, Ernesto Campanelli, visited dozens of countries, often stopping for multiple weeks at a time, particularly in Australia, before successfully arriving in Tokyo on 26 September 1925.
[4] Production models were produced for both civilian and military export customers; numerous S.55s were used during the Second World War and for a number of years beyond the conflict, despite the arrival of many newer types.
As the conflict turned in favour of the Allies, the company's manufacturing facilities were a particularly high-priority target for enemy bombers, leading to their virtual destruction by the final months of WWII.
The firm continued to make efforts to design and produce new aircraft, such as the SM-93 dive bomber during 1944, but the economic consequences of the costly war made such ambitions unrealistic at best.
[15] During the immediate postwar era, SIAI-Marchetti endeavoured to survive within the commercially inhospitable climate by diversifying into the manufacture of various items of railway equipment and trucks though efforts were not successful.