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Title: Schneider Cup racers
Album: Italian racing planes
Owner:
mcg
Photographer: mcg
Dimensions: 2272 x 1704
File size: 1830k
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Date taken: 6/23/2004 at 07:30:19
Date uploaded: 6/30/2004
Last comment:
Times viewed: 382
Times viewed last month: 0
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These racers are displayed at the Italian Air Force Museum near Rome. The museum is housed in a series of hangars at the edge of Lake Bracciano. The site was originally a hydroplane base. Take the train to Bracciano from Rome. Then take the Bracciano-Anguillara Bus from Palazzo Rosi, which is a few blocks walk from the train station. Be sure to tell the driver you want to get off at the museum. Or rent a car in Rome and drive out. The museum has a web site with directions and a map.
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These aircraft were actually faster than contemporary racers with wheels. There are various explanations for this. One is, the water permitted a very long take-off run and, therefore, allowed for very high takeoff speeds. This meant it was possible to use shorter wings, hence less drag, hence higher flying speeds. Maybe this makes sense. Something else to consider might be the strange vortices arising from three interfering bodies, the two pontoons and the fuselage. Whatever the logic, the planes were incredibly fast, with the fastest cracking 440 mph, pontoons and all. This, nearly 80 years ago.
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The air intakes to the carburation system were on the right side of the plane, evident as a long "nostil" below the nacelle bulge for the cam box. The pilot was Mario di Bernardi. The Schneider competitions were essentially time trials, with staggered starts. The less wing area, the less drag and the faster the plane. Of course, with such stubby wings they depended very heavily on their engines. Absent power, they glided like stones. For this and other reasons, the planes were very, very demanding to fly.
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The M-39, winner of the 1926 Schneider cup race held at Norfolk, Virginia. Only the American and Italian racers competed. The Americans had won in 1925 with a Curtiss biplane racer piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. (This sleek and tiny Curtiss racer is on display in the Air and Space Museum in Washington). The Americans raced biplanes again in 1926, but they did not have the speed of the new Macchi monoplanes. (Say "mackey"). The Italian aviators were congratulated with a reception at the White House by then president silent Calvin Coolidge.
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Title: MC-67 1929 racer
Album: Italian racing planes
Owner:
mcg
Dimensions: 2272 x 1704
File size: 1737k
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Date taken: 6/23/2004 at 07:22:31
Date uploaded: 6/29/2004
Last comment:
Times viewed: 245
Times viewed last month: 0
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The vertical stabilizer and rudder had a characteristic "fish tail" appearance on all of the Macchi's. The crest was the auspice of the Italian royal family, the House of Savoy. Italy was still a kingdom.
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Title: Macchi MC-67
Album: Italian racing planes
Owner:
mcg
Dimensions: 2272 x 1704
File size: 1698k
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Date taken: 6/23/2004 at 07:21:11
Date uploaded: 6/29/2004
Last comment:
Times viewed: 301
Times viewed last month: 0
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Another perspective on the MC-67. The brass plates on the surface of the aircraft fuselage and pontoons were oil and water radiators. The radiators even run along the leading edges of the wings. The planes had quite a circulatory system.
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MC-67, a racer prepared for the 1929 Calshot race, probably the prettiest of the Macchi series. The engine was a "W" rather than an inline or "V", and the design is reflected in the triple bulges on the nacelle. An Isotta-Fraschini engine (in pale green) is visible behind the plane; in this photo you can make out two of the three cam boxes. It produced about 1800 hp. Rival Supermarine Rolls-Royces were comparable at about 1900 hp.
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The powerplant for the MC-72. These two huge Fiat V-12 aircraft engines produced about 1400 hp each. One engine drove each propellor. There was no attempt to synchronize the props: the drive shafts were coaxial, with the rear engine driving the front propellor. Notice the forced induction manifold. The supercharger is mounted behind the rear engine block. On the forward engine's visible side I count 6 spark plugs and 12 exhaust ports; evidently they used two exhaust valves per cylinder. Imagine the sound...
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Title: Macchi MC-72
Album: Italian racing planes
Owner:
mcg
Photographer: mcg
Dimensions: 2272 x 1704
File size: 1663k
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Date taken: 6/2004
Date uploaded: 6/29/2004
Last comment:
Times viewed: 403
Times viewed last month: 0
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This aircraft never raced, but it set a speed record for propellor driven hydroplanes in the early 1930s that has never been broken, well north of 400 mph. Why counter-rotating props? By 1929 the Schneider cup racing engines were producing so much power that the engine torque, as the pilot accelerated to take-off, could submerge one pontoon -- causing the plane to flip. The idea of the counter-rotating props was to cancel the torque so the plane could make a safe takeoff run. The "MC" stands for Mario Castoldi, the aircraft's very gifted designer. The portrait depicts Royal Italian Air Force pilot Francesco Agello, who flew the MC-72 to its speed record.
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