The Macchi M.70, was an Italian light

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 ...

of the late 1920s built by

Macchi Macchi is an Italian surname, the patronymic or plural form of the old personal name ''Macco'' from the Latin '' Maccus''. It is possibly a variant of '' macchia''. Notable people with the surname include: * Aurelio Macchi (1916–2010), Argenti ...

Design and development

The M.70 was a two-seat, single-bay biplane with tandem cockpits. The pilot generally sat in the rear cockpit, but both cockpits had flight controls. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was of wooden construction with

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

skin and was of rectangular section. The

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

s were of equal span, fairly thick section, and wooden construction; they had fabric covering, and only the lower wing had

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...

s. The interplane struts were steel tubes braced with

piano wire Piano wire, or "music wire", is a specialized type of wire made for use in piano string (music), strings but also in other applications as Spring (device), springs. It is made from tempering (metallurgy), tempered high-carbon steel, also known ...

. The tail surfaces were constructed of steel frames covered by fabric. The

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

was balanced, while the ailerons and

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

were unbalanced. The aircraft was powered by the

Blackburn Cirrus II The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s. The engines were air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types. They were widely used for private and li ...

engine or similar engines in the 56 to 60

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

(75 to 80

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 t ...

) range, driving a two-bladed

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. Its wings were hinged and could be folded back along the fuselage, and the aircraft could be converted from landplane to

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, ...

configuration by removal of its fixed, V-type, straight-axle wheeled landing gear and installation of twin, single-step floats mounted on four struts.

Operational history

An M.70 flown by an Italian pilot named Agello was among 53 aircraft entered in the 1930 '' Giro Aereo d'Italia'' ("Circuit of Italy") race, which more or less circled the Italian "boot" and was held in four stages flown on 25, 27, 29, and 31 August 1930. Rather than be held as a straightforward timed race, the ''Giro Aereo dItalia'' used a handicapping system to determine a staggered start at the beginning of each of the four stages of the race; the system was biased against aircraft with better pure racing capabilities, adjusting start times to favor planes with other characteristics the race organizers deemed useful in

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

. During preliminary tests held before the race, an aircraft received a higher number of points if it demonstrated a higher rate of climb, shorter takeoff run, and shorter landing distance, and if it had better "touring qualities"—folding wings, comfort, ease of control in flight, and an ability to accommodate safety features such as the wearing of

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

s, among other things; it was penalized for greater weight and higher engine power. The

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

with the highest point total was allowed to start first in each stage, those with fewer points starting later at a rate of one minute of delay per point behind. Agellos M.70, powered by a Colombo S.53 engine, had among the three shortest takeoff runs and demonstrated the shortest landing distance of any of the 53 entrants, stopping in only 50 meters (164 feet). Overall, the point system placed the M.70 in the ninth starting position, allowing Agello to start with an 11-minute handicap.

Operators

; *

Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...

Regia Aeronautica The Royal Italian Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') (RAI) was the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Regio Esercito, Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was ...

Specifications

Notes

References