Italian Scneider Trophy racers

Just outside Rome – see post #11 above.

WOW – they are astounding! I just fell over this thread by accident – pushed the thread button and up they came in 5 star order. Silly me, must have been sleeping under a rock a few weeks ago.

And they are SO Italian – the way Italian designers of go fast things seem able to blend performance with elegance.

I now have another reason to get back to my favourite country in the world … where in Italy is this place?

bellissima

Great photos, Mike.

Even the crane looks stylish!

Regards,

Paul

Interestingly, the Macchi M.39 was brought to England inside an Italian AF C-130 in 1982 and was on display at Calshot during the Schneider Trophy Anniversary show.

Beautiful just isn’t a strong enough word to describe these incredible aircraft…
Thanks Mike !!!

TNZ

According to Setright’s book ‘the power to fly’, the rear airscrew was much more efficient than the front, so to balance out the power, the rear engine drove the front airscrew and the supercharger for both units, whilst the front engine drove the rear airscrew. Both airscrews were driven by hollow shafts with the power takeoff at the centre between the banks. James, however, states that one of the principle problems in setting up the engine was adjusting the pitch of each airscrew to enable them to run at the same speed, adding to the carburation problems that took three years and the loss of two planes and pilots to solve before the record in 1934

Just how independent the motors were is a matter of some confusion. James states in ‘Schenider trophy aircraft’ p. 242 that they were independent mechanically , the only common link being the connected throttles, but , crucially, that the ‘induction and ignition units were common’. If you look at the picture in Gunstons book on page 133, you can see that the magnetos were driven from the rear engine as well as the supercharger, so presumably the start sequence would have had to have been rear engine first, front engine second. If the rear motor failed….. In the photo that Mike posted the magnetos are not in place, just the mountings for them on the left under the supercharger which look like grey sugar scoops.

Edit:

Cancel some of the above! If you look carefully at photos of the complete engine at the back of James’ book, you can see the magnetos driven from the nose of the front engine – so the ignition sytems were independent

Yes, Tim: see my post #34 on this earlier thread . . .
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31178&page=2&pp=30

Mike

Absolutely stunning. What a superb facility.

That last pic of the MC72. Is each engine connected independantly to a two bladed prop?

…and the final batch (apologies to those on dialup!)

Thanks for all your kind comments, folks.

For those who wanted more….

Mike–

Great stuff. Knew those four glorious Schneider contenders had finally been brought together but hadn’t seen pix yet. The Italians always have been tops at combining engineering with high style…

Anyone else notice how very close the resemblance is between the nose profile of the MC.72 and that of a mid-production (VIII/IX/XVI) Spitfire? And this on a 1931 seaplane. Whew.

These machines have an appeal unlike anything else. I’m an aviation artist (well, approximately) in Canada; have never seen any of these birds in the flesh (did see the S.6B in the Science Museum once). Two of the other brush-wielders I know here have produced paintings of the Macchi seaplane racers, though, simply because they were both taken with the looks and history of the designs. Wish I could post those images here, I think the forum members would enjoy them.

The MC.72 fairly shouts out to be replicated, doesn’t it? Hmm. Two Falconer V12 boat engines end-to-end? Two Ferrari 333SP engines? Two 330GT units? Surely the sheer passion for speed that produced these birds in the first place still lurks somewhere (where a commensurate amount of disposable cash also lurks)…?

In any case…now I have another museum display to add to my list of “must-sees” in continental Europe if I ever manage to get there…

Cheers

S.

Super shots Mike. Lightning looks good in there for photography. Shame our museums haven’t got their act together, with the S-6B collecting dust in the gloomy Science Museum and the S-6A in the Southampton Hall of Aviation. Put them together with the replica of the prototype Spitfire in a well-lit building and we could do the same!

Very lovely indeed, Mike.

You have an incredibly understanding wife if she doesn’t mind being dragged around air museums during a romantic holiday in Italy.

I just wish we could get photos like this in the Science Museum.

Rob

It’s called ‘compromise’ Robbo! My wife doesn’t mind being dragged round aviation museums on holiday, providing I don’t mind being bored by the pool one day, or going shopping!

JDK,
Many thanks for the link to Pathe – one could get lost for hours in their archive! An absolutely astonishing source of information. The clip you found was fascinating for many reasons, but the sound clip that I have for the MC72 is very different to the background sound on the newsreel which is at constant pitch all the way through. I will try and find it again and post the link if I do.

JIm

Bingo!

Took a bit of finding, but if you’d like to see the Macchi Castoldi in action, plus soundtrack; Pathe does it again…

www.britishpathe.com

“1658.17 | AIR RECORD MAKERS (1:25:44:00 – 1:27:31:00) 26/11/1934
Full title reads: “AIR RECORD MAKERS – Parmentier and Moll arrive home and Italian Ace beats World Speed Record.” Marseilles? France. Several shots of the plane landing at the airfield – people gathered around to greet the pilots. Pilots and crew in front of the plane, smoking and chatting.

Parmentier and Moll, Dutch pilots who flew from England to Australia in record time, are on their way home. Several shots of the plane – it is American Douglas plane with KLM and Royal Dutch Air written on it. Plane takes off – the record fliers are going back to Holland.

Desenzo, Italy. Several shots of a seaplane getting ready to take off. Flight Lieutenant Agello is in the plane ready for attempt to make a new world’s air speed record. Several shots of the seaplane speeding across water. Several shots of the plane in flight. Cameramen are filming the event. Plane taxiing in. Several shots of the crowd around Angelo after his success – people cheering loudly.”

The sound is (obviously) dubbed, so may not be the Macchi-Castoldi’s engine – however the film footage is real.

If you want to get stuff form Pathe yourself, this is a good example. It works on ‘key word’ searching – You’ll note ‘Macchi’, ‘Castoldi’, ‘Schnider’ (& variant spellings…) won’t get the result. I found it by searching ‘seaplane’ and setting the 1930s as the decade. (Got lots of other interesting bits too, but that’s another story.)

Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing Mike.

More please!

I am eagerly waiting to see all other pictures you took as I am eagerly waiting to have the opportunity to visit this museum

Mike,

Thanks for the additional pics. Stunning stuff. In my opinion these are much more informative and emotive of the place and aircraft than those of the MC72 in this months edition of the mag we are not supposed to mention on this site (although they did show the cockpit)

any more? (OK I might just be considered greedy but….)

JIm

About a year ago I found a short recording ( 2 sec) that was supposed to be of the MC72 at full throttle

I’m sure I’ve heard this as well, connected with a sim model of the aircraft but said to be the real thing and included as a bonus.
It sounded fabulous, unlike any other aircraft I’ve heard, more like an F1 car.

Wonderful aeroplanes.

Great Stuff Mike

You have out done yourself again Mike 🙂 , Top shots, I was trying a while back to get pics of the M.C. 72 as is now for Turbo(chris 😉 ), But I could not get a link to work, Looks like a great place to visit 😀 , Yes about open cockpits, Most airforces at the time, Yanks, Japs, Russians, and more all were reluctant to change to closed canopys, I met a Great granddaughter of Roby Manuel 😎 a RFC aussie pilot with a DFC and 12 vics in WW1 at my last Point Cook airshow, Told me Gramps was at his happyest in a moth or like aircraft, Open Cockpit, Ignore all instruments, and fly by feel and the seat of his pants as she put it, Different training, Early days, Had no mod cons to worry about, Cheers Lads, Thanks for sharing again Mike, Tally Ho! Phil. :diablo: