Macchi M.14
| Macchi M.14 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Fighter |
| National origin | Italy |
| Manufacturer | Macchi |
| Designer | Alessandro Tonini |
| First flight | 1918 |
| Introduction | 1919 |
| Primary user | Italy |
| Number built | 11 |
The Macchi M.14 was an Italian fighter of 1918 designed and manufactured by Macchi. The M.14 was the first non-seaplane fighter Macchi produced, its previous fighter production having focused on flying boat fighters.[1]
Design and development
Alessandro Tonini designed the M.14, which was a single-seat wooden sesquiplane with Warren truss interplane bracing and armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7-millimeter (0.303-inch) Vickers machine guns synchronized to fire through the propeller. It had fixed, tailskid landing gear, and its 82-kilowatt (110-horsepower) Le Rhône 9J nine-cylinder rotary engine drove a two-bladed tractor propeller.[2]
Operational history
Company testing of the M.14 prototype began in the spring of 1918. It was destroyed in June 1918, but Macchi then constructed 10 production aircraft, which underwent official evaluation at Guidonia Montecelio in 1919. Although no additional M.14s were ordered, the 10 aircraft saw service as advanced trainers. At last one of them is known to have become a civilian aircraft with the civil registration I-BADG.[3]
Operators
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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: 5.65 m (18 ft 6½ in)
- Wingspan: 8.20 m (26 ft 10.8 in)
- Height: 2.62 m (8 ft 7⅛ in)
- Wing area: 16.60 m2 (178.69 ft2)
- Empty weight: 440 kg (970 lb)
- Gross weight: 640 kg (1,411 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Le Rhône 9J nine-cylinder rotary, 82 kW (110 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 182 km/h (113 mph)
- Endurance: 2 hours
Armament
- 2 × fixed forward-firing synchronized 7.7-millimeter (0.303-inch) machine guns
Notes:
- Time to 1,000 m (3,281 ft): 3 min 30 sec
- Maximum speed figure is at sea level
See also
- Related lists
Notes
References
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- 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.