Macchi M.26

Macchi M.26
Role Flying boat fighter
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Macchi
Designer Mario Castoldi (1888-1968)
First flight 1924
Primary user Italy
Number built 2

The Macchi M.26 was an Italian flying boat fighter prototype of 1924 designed and manufactured by Macchi.

Design and development

In 1924, the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) issued a requirement for a replacement for its Macchi M.7ter flying boat fighter. To compete with the SIAI S.58 for a production order as the replacement, Macchi company designer Mario Castoldi (1888-1968) developed the M.26. It was a wooden, single-seat, single-bay biplane armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7-millimeter (0.303-inch) Vickers machine guns. It had plywood and fabric skinning, and its wings were of equal span and unstaggered. The M.26's engine, a 221-kilowatt (296-brake horsepower) Hispano-Suiza HS 42 V8 driving a pusher propeller, was mounted on struts above the hull and below the upper wing. For an aircraft of its type, its aerodynamic design was very clean.[1]

The M.26 was completed in 1924 and made its first flight that year, demonstrating good performance. Macchi built two prototypes, but the Regia Marina[2] opted to save money by re-engining the Macchi M.7ter to extend its service life rather than purchase a new aircraft, and Macchi received no production orders for the M.26. However, a few years later Macchi based the design of its M.41 fighter on that of the M.26.[3]

Operators

 Kingdom of Italy

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: one
  • Length: 8.15 m (26 ft 8⅞ in)
  • Wingspan: 9.20 m (30 ft 2¼ in)
  • Height: 3.00 m (9 ft 10 in)
  • Wing area: 26.00 m2 (279.87 ft2)
  • Empty weight: 865 kg (1,907 lb)
  • Gross weight: 1,195 kg (2,634 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza HS 42 V8 piston, 221 kW (296 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 244 km/h (152 mph)
  • Endurance: 2 hours  30 min

Armament

Notes:

  • Time to 4,000 m (13,123 ft): 12 min 18 sec

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

Notes

  1. ↑ Green and Swanborough, pp. 357-358 and 527.
  2. ↑ Green and Swanborough, p. 358, attributes this decision to the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force), but on p. 527 attributes it to the Italian naval aviation branch.
  3. ↑ Green and Swanborough, p. 358.

References

  • 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.
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