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The Macchi M.C. 72 was an experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi Aeronautica. In 1933 and 1934 it set a world record for speed over water. A DeHavilland Single Otter floatplane in Harbour Air livery. ...
Aermacchi is an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded in 1913 at Varese in north-western Lombardy, 55 km north of Milan. ...
The Macchi M.C. 72 was one of a series of seaplanes developed by Macchi Aeronautica. An earlier model, the Macchi M.24 was a twin engine flying boat armed with machine guns and capable of carrying a torpedeo. Later in the 1920s, Macchi focused on speed and on winning the Schneider Trophy. In 1922 the company hired aircraft designer Mario Castoldi to design fast planes. In 1926, the company won the trophy with the Macchi M.39 which attained a top speed of 246 mph (about 394 km/h). Further planes (the M.52, M.52R, and the M.67) were designed and built but victory in the Schneider races kept eluding the Italians. Castoldi then designed the ultimate racing seaplane, the M.C. 72, a single seater plane with two floats. It was built in 1931 with the idea of competing for what turned out to be the final Schneider Trophy race but, due to engine problems, the plane was unable to compete. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...
Mario Castoldi (February 26, 1888 - May 31, 1968) was an Italian aircraft engineer and designer. ...
Instead of halting development, Macchi continued work on the M.C. 72. Benito Mussolini personally took an interest[1] in seeing development of the M.C. 72 continue and directed state funds to the company. For two years the plane suffered from many mechanical defects as well as the loss of two test pilots who died trying to coax world class speed out of the M.C. 72 (first Monti and then Bellini). The final design of M.C. 72 used a double, counter-rotating fixed-pitch propeller powered by a modified Fiat AS-6 engine generating some 2500 to 3000 horse power (thanks to supercharging). Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) was the Prime-Minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. ...
Fiat Punto FIAT Group, or Fiat S.p. ...
A supercharger (also known as a blower, a positive displacement pump or a centrifugal pumper) is a gas compressor used to pump air into the cylinders of an internal combustion engine. ...
The plane finally lived up to expectations when it set a new world speed record (over water) on April 10, 1933 with a speed of 682 km/h (424 mph). It was piloted by Francesco Agello (the last qualified test pilot). Not satisfied, development continued as the plane's creators thought they could break 700 km/h with the M.C. 72. This feat was in fact achieved on October 23, 1934 when Agello piloted the plane for an average speed of 709 km/h over three passes (440 mph). This record remains (as of 2006) the fastest speed ever attained by a piston engine seaplane. After this success, the M.C.72 was never flown again.
Speed record The M.C.72 held the world speed record for all planes for five years. For comparison, the record holder for a land-based plane was held (for a time) by the Hughes H-1 Racer with a top speed of only 566 km/h (352 mph). Then in 1939 two German planes passed the M.C.72. The first plane was a Heinkel He 100 which reached the speed of 746 km/h (464 mph). The second plane was a Messerschmitt Me 209 which set the new world speed record of 756 km/h (470 mph) in August - just days before the start of World War II. The current world speed record for a piston-engine plane is 850 km/h (528 mph) set by a heavily modified American F8F Bearcat in 1989. The H-1 was a racing aircraft built by Howard Hughes company in 1935. ...
The Heinkel He 100 was a pre-World War II fighter aircraft design from Heinkel. ...
Messerschmitts designation Me 209 was actually used for two separate projects during World War II. The first, described below, was a record-setting single-engined race plane for which little or no consideration was given to adaptation for combat. ...
Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
The Grumman F8F Bearcat (affectionately called Bear) was the companys final piston engined fighter aircraft. ...
Popular culture - The Miyazaki film Porco Rosso, while clearly not historical, seems inspired by Italian seaplanes and pilots of this time period.
Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao), born January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, is a director of Japanese animated films. ...
Porco Rosso , lit. ...
Sources
Notes - ^ Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation (1989)
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