50 Dollars WWII Italian S.M. 79 Sparviero

The Marshall Islands launched an aggressive commemorative program in the late 1980s and early 1990s, issuing dozens of legal-tender silver rounds under U.S. Treasury oversight — a function of the Compact of Free Association signed in 1986. Most were sold directly to collectors and never approached a cash register. This piece honors the Savoia-Marchetti S.M. 79, the trimotor medium bomber that served as the backbone of the Regia Aeronautica's torpedo-bombing units in the Mediterranean, where crews flying it achieved disproportionate results against Allied shipping despite severe Italian logistical disadvantages.