The fuselage of the Breguet Atlantic was based on the concept to match the upper pressurized compartment for the 13 personnel crew, with the large payload bay and other equipment bays on the lower half. The resulting cross section shaped like an 8, combined with a mid position of the wing, gave also a good floatability to the airframe. No one of the Italian aircraft was ever lost for accidents. But a Dutch Marine Atlantic that ditched in the Atlantic Ocean on 15 January 1981 demonstrated the goodness of this design.

This airframe is the last of the 18 Atlantics delivered to the Italian Air Force. Still with the initial big unit codes, at the time of this photo the aircraft was stationed in Lorient for some days during a squadron exchange. Italian Atlantics were operated by a mixed crew of Air Force and Navy Aviation personnel. Management of sea and surveillance operations was responsibility of the Italian Navy, while technical and logistic management, other than the property of the aircraft fleet, was in charge to the Italian Air Force.