The Macchi M.41 was an Italian

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

fighter

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

of 1927 designed and manufactured by

Macchi Aermacchi was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Formerly known as Aeronautica Macchi, the company was founded in 1912 by Giulio Macchi at Varese in north-western Lombardy as Nieuport-Macchi, to build Nieuport monoplanes under licence for the Ita ...

. Its production model, the M.41''bis'', first flown in 1929, was in front line service from 1930 to 1938.

Design and development

M.41

In 1927, the ''

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

'' (Italian Royal Navy) held a contest for a replacement for the Macchi M.7''ter'' flying boat fighter. In response, Macchi designed the M.41, based on its

Macchi M.26 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.7''te ...

design of 1924. The M.41 was a wooden, single-seat, single-bay

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7-

millimeter 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. The millimetre (American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, ...

(0.303-

inch Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth") ...

)

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

s. It had

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

and fabric skinning, and its wings were of equal span and unstaggered. Its engine, a 313-

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

(420-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

)

Fiat A.20 The Fiat A.20 was an Italian aero-engine of the 1920s. It was a water-cooled V12 engine that was used by early versions of the Fiat CR.20 fighter and the Macchi M.41 seaplane. In 1923, FIAT built the A.15, a 430 hp (320 kW) water-co ...

driving a pusher propeller, was mounted on struts above the hull and below the upper

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, and the aircraft was fitted with an oblique frontal

radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

. Like the M.26, it was of very clean

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

design for an aircraft of its type. In the 1927 contest, the M.41 prototype competed against the SIAI S.58''bis''. Macchi received no production order for the M.41 and built only the first prototype. Although plans were made for SIAI to produce 97 S.58''bis'' aircraft, these fell through when the ''Regia Marina'' decided to save money by re-engining the M.7''ter'' rather than procure any new replacement aircraft in 1927.

M.41 ''bis''

In 1929, the ''Regia Marina'' again organized a contest for an M.7 ''ter'' replacement. Macchi produced a new version of the M.41, dubbed the M.41 ''bis'', which differed from the M.41 chiefly in having a vertical radiator. It performed better than the SIAI S.58''ter'' in the contest, and this time Macchi was awarded a contract to produce 41 M.41 ''bis'' aircraft.

Operational history

Macchi delivered all 41 M.41 ''bis'' aircraft, which began to enter service in 1930. They operated in two ''squadriglie'' of the 88° ''Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Marittima'', and remained in front-line service until replaced in 1938 by the

IMAM Ro.44 The IMAM Ro.44 was a fighter seaplane developed in Italy, a single seater derivative of the IMAM Ro.43, Ro.43 that first flew in October 1936. While the Ro.43 had serious problems, the Ro.44 was an utter failure. Armed with two 12.7 mm machi ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

fighter.

Operators

; * ''

'' ** 88° ''Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Marittima'' ; *

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

Specifications (M.41bis)

References

;Notes {{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation M.41 1920s Italian fighter aircraft Biplanes Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1927