Macchi M.71

Macchi M.71

Role: Flying boat fighter
National origin: Italy
Manufacturer: Macchi
First flight: 1930
Primary user: Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy)
Number built: No more than 12
Variants: Macchi M.41bis

The Macchi M.71 was an Italian flying boat fighter of the 1930s designed and manufactured by Macchi.

Design and development

In 1930, Macchi built a new version of its M.41bis flying boat fighter designed for launching by catapult from warships of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy). The new aircraft, the M.71, built to the same dimensions as the M.41bis and aerodynamically very clean for an aircraft of its type, was identical to the M.41bis in most ways, being a wooden, single-seat, single-bay biplane armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7-millimeter (0.303-inch) machine guns, plywood and fabric skinning, unstaggered wings of equal span, a 313-kilowatt (420-horsepower) Fiat A.20 engine driving a pusher propeller mounted on struts above the hull and below the upper wing, and fitted with a vertical radiator. It differed from the M.41bis in having a stronger wing cellule and catapult pick-up points and, to facilitate rapid assembly and disassambly during shipboard operations, it had inclined steel tube struts between the hull, interplane struts, and upper wing section instead of the M.41bis's bracing wires.

Operational history

The Regia Marina accepted the M.71 for service, and Macchi built a small number of them, probably no more than twelve. They briefly saw service aboard Regia Marina warships during the 1930s until the IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance floatplane and IMAM Ro.44 floatplane fighter replaced them.

Operators

Italy

Regia Marina

Specifications

Data from Green, William, and Gordon Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown, New York: SMITHMARK Publishers, 1994, ISBN 0-8317-3939-8

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 8.66 m (28 ft 4â…ž in)
Wingspan: 11.12 m (36 ft 5¾ in)
Height: 3.12 m (10 ft 2.8 in)
Wing area: 31.90 m² (343.38 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,260 kg (2,778 lb)
Gross weight: 1,690 kg (3,726 lb)
Powerplant: 1 x— Fiat A.20 water-cooled V12 engine, 313 kW (420 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 259 km/h (161 mph)

Armament

2 x— fixed forward-firing 7.7-millimeter (0.303-inch) machine guns

Alenia Aermacchi

Comparable aircraft

Macchi M.41bis

Green, William, and Gordon Swanborough. The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown. New York: SMITHMARK Publishers, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.

Macchi M.71 Pictures and Macchi M.71 for Sale.

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia