Macchi M.33
Macchi M.33 | |
---|---|
Role | Racing flying boat |
Manufacturer | Aeronautica Macchi |
First flight | 1925 |
Primary user | Italy |
Number built | 2 |
The Macchi M.33 was an Italian racing flying boat which competed in the 1925 Schneider Trophy race.
Design and development[]
The Macchi M.33 was a single-seat, wooden, shoulder-wing monoplane flying boat of very clean aerodynamic design for its time. Its cantilever wing was fairly thick and carried stabilizing floats on each side. Italy lacked competitive racing engines in 1925, so the M.33 was powered with a used 1923 Curtiss D-12 engine rated at 378 kilowatts (507 horsepower) in a streamlined nacelle mounted on struts above the fuselage and driving a two-bladed tractor propeller. The M.33 had a flat-plate radiator, a type that was obsolescent by 1925, rather than modern surface radiators.[1]
The D-12 engines powering M.33s were worn-out and unreliable and lacked the power of newer foreign engines, and pilots reported that the aircraft suffered from wing flutter.[1]
Operational history[]
Despite the M.33's shortcomings, Italy entered two of them in the 1925 Schneider Trophy race hosted by the United States at Baltimore, Maryland. The one piloted by was scratched from the race because of engine ignition problems. piloted the other M.33; during the race he did not use full throttle out of fear for his aircraft's engine and wing problems, and was further delayed by a navigational error he made during the second lap of the seven-lap race. He came in third with an average speed of 271 kilometers per hour (168 miles per hour); this was well behind the second-place finisher, a British Gloster IIIA piloted by Hubert Broad which finished with an average speed of 321 kilometers per hour (199 miles per hour), and also behind the winner, an American Curtiss R3C-2 piloted by Jimmy Doolittle (1896-1993), which finished with an average speed of 374 kilometers per hour (233 miles per hour).[1]
De Briganti's M.33 was the last flying boat to compete in the Schneider Trophy races.[1]
Specifications[]
Data from Vitesse à l'italienne: Le Macchi M.33[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 8.55 m (28 ft 1 in)
- Wingspan: 9.74 m (31 ft 11 in)
- Height: 2.68 m (8 ft 10 in)
- Wing area: 15 m2 (160 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 975 kg (2,150 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,255 kg (2,767 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Curtiss D-12 V-12 water-cooled piston engine, 340 kW (450 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 350 km/h (220 mph, 190 kn)
- Stall speed: 110 km/h (68 mph, 59 kn)
See also[]
- Porco Rosso - The hull and engine design of Porco's fictional Savoia S.21 fighter are nearly the equivalent of the M.33, however the fictional fighter is a parasol-wing design, and features a different design of tailplane shapes and sizes in comparison to the Macchi as well.
Related lists
References[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Macchi M.33. |
Bibliography[]
- Lefèbvre, Jean-Michel & Foxworth, Thomas (April 1978). "Vitesse à la italienne: le Macchi M.33, partie 2" [Italian Speed: The Macchi M.33, Part Two]. Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No. 101. pp. 12–15. ISSN 0757-4169.
- Schneider Trophy
- Flying boats
- 1920s Italian sport aircraft
- Racing aircraft
- Macchi aircraft
- High-wing aircraft
- Single-engined tractor aircraft
- Aircraft first flown in 1925