Macchi M.20

{{Short description|Single-engine biplane}}  {{Infobox aircraft | name = Macchi M.20 | logo = | logo_size = | image = Macchi M-20 Aero Digest May 1926.jpg | alt = | caption = Photograph of a Macchi M.20 in the 1 May 1926 issue of ''Aero Digest''. | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = Civil trainer | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = Italy | manufacturer = Aeronautica Macchi | design_group = | designer = Alessandro Tonini | builder = | issuer = | status = | owners = | primary_user = | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = ca. 1940 | first_flight = ca. 1919 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }} The '''Macchi M.20''' was a single-engine biplane trainer aircraft produced by the Italian aeronautical company Aeronautica Macchi between the end of the 1910s and the beginning of the 1920s.

Produced in small numbers and intended for the civil aviation market, the M.20 was developed in parallel with the Macchi M.16, a single-seat civil sport plane.<ref name=macchi_m.20>{{cite web|url=http://www.museocaproni.it/velivoli/macchi-m20.asp|title=Macchi M.20|access-date=24 February 2012|website=museocaproni.it/ Museo dell'Aeronautica Gianni Caproni|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614125444/http://www.museocaproni.it/velivoli/macchi-m20.asp |archive-date=14 June 2012 |language=it}}</ref>

==Development history==

When military production orders disappeared at the end of World War I in November 1918, the Macchi technical office, under the direction at the time of the aeronautical engineer Alessandro Tonini, began the development of two new light aircraft models for the civil aviation market. The two aircraft were the M.16, intended for recreational aviation, and the M.20, equipped with dual controls and suitable for pilot training. The M.16 and M.20 had a common design origin and identical configurations as single-engine biplanes with fixed landing gear.<ref name=macchi_m.20/>

==Technical description==

The M.20 was a conventional aircraft for its time: a single-engine, two-seat biplane with fixed landing gear. The narrow-track landing gear had internal shock absorbers. The M.20 had a deep fuselage of a wooden lattice structure that was free of tensioners and metal cables, eliminating the need to adjust tie rods. Its dual controls were disengagable.<ref name=trentino/> The limited power of its 34-kilowatt (45-horsepower) engine affected its performance despite its low empty weight, described as {{convert|250|and|340|kg|lb|0}} by different sources.<ref name=macchi_m.20/><ref name=trentino>{{cite web |title=Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino : Macchi M. 20 |url=http://www.museostorico.it/index.php/Media/Files/Caproni/Macchi-M.-20 |website=www.museostorico.it |access-date=17 December 2020 |language=Italian}}</ref>

In 1925, when Mario Castoldi took over the role of technical director at Macchi, the M.20 was redesigned with a thicker airfoil and ailerons added to its upper wings.<ref name=trentino/> The new features could be backfitted onto existing M.20s.<ref name=trentino/>

One M.20 was experimentally equipped with floats for operation as a floatplane.<ref name=trentino/>

==Operational use==

The Macchi M.20 first flew soon after the end of World War I. Competing in the civilian marketplace with a glut of surplus military aircraft in the aftermath of World War I, the M.20 had limited commercial success and was produced only in small numbers. Both individuals and flying clubs operated M.20 aircraft, and the type remained in service until around the time of Italy's entry into World War II in 1940.<ref name=trentino/>

On 12 October 1924, an M.20 piloted by Giovanni De Briganti won the ''Coppa Italia'' ("Italian Cup") race, run on the circuit Ciampino–Montecelio–Centocelle.<ref name=trentino/>

==Surviving example== [[File:Museo dell'Aeronautica Gianni Caproni M.20.JPG|thumb|A restored Macchi M.20 on display in the main hall at the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics in Trento, Italy, on 5 July 2011.]] [[File:45 hp Anzani engine on Macchi M.20.JPG|thumb|Close-up of the Anzani radial engine of the restored Macchi M.20 at the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics in Trento, Italy, on 23 August 2012.]] An M.20 on display at the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics in Trento, Italy, is as of 2012 the oldest surviving example of an original Macchi-designed aircraft in Italy.<ref name=trentino/> Probably built sometime between 1920 and 1925,<ref name=trentino/> it subsequently was modified with the new wings and ailerons introduced in 1925.<ref name=trentino/> The ''Società Anonima Aerocentro Emiliano'' purchased it in 1929, installed a Salmson 9 AD engine in it, and in March 1930 registered it as ''I-AABO''.<ref name=trentino/> The Aero Club of Rimini purchased it in September 1933, and subsequently it was written off after an accident.<ref name=trentino/> The Milanese aeronautical engineer and aircraft manufacturer Piero Magni purchased it, and in 1939 he modified it, giving it rounded and elongated wing tips, enlarged cockpits, and different fletchings, but in its modified form it did not receive a certificate of airworthiness.<ref name=trentino/>

The Caproni brothers acquired the aircraft's fuselage and wings from the aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer Pier Carlo Bergonzi during the 1950s,<ref name=trentino/> and it became part of the collection of the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics during the 1970s.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} It underwent restoration by the Masterfly company between 1988 and 1990.<ref name=trentino/> It is painted in the markings of an unregistered M.20 racer of the 1924–1925 period.<ref name=trentino/>

==Operators== ;{{flag|Kingdom of Italy}} *Private users

==Specifications== {{Aircraft specs |ref=Macchi M.20<ref name=macchi_m.20/> |prime units?=met  |crew=2 |length m=5.75 |span m=8.00 |height m=2.30 |height ft= |height in= |height note= |wing area sqm= |aspect ratio= |airfoil= |empty weight kg=250 |gross weight kg= |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity= |more general=  |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Anzani 6-cylinder |eng1 type=air-cooled radial piston engine |eng1 hp=45 |prop blade number=2 |prop name=fixed-pitch wooden propeller |prop dia m= |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop dia note=  |max speed kmh=126 |cruise speed kmh= |cruise speed mph= |cruise speed kts= |cruise speed note= |stall speed kmh= |stall speed mph= |stall speed kts= |stall speed note= |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |never exceed speed note= |range km= |range miles= |range nmi= |range note= |combat range km= |combat range miles= |combat range nmi= |combat range note= |ferry range km= |ferry range miles= |ferry range nmi= |ferry range note= |endurance= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft= |ceiling note= |g limits= |roll rate= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude= |wing loading kg/m2= |wing loading lb/sqft= |wing loading note= |fuel consumption kg/km= |fuel consumption lb/mi= |power/mass= }}

==See also== {{aircontent  |see also= |related= *Macchi M.16 |similar aircraft= |lists= }}

==References== {{Commons category}} {{reflist}}

M.20 Category:1910s Italian civil aircraft Category:Italian civil trainer aircraft Category:Racing aircraft Category:Biplanes Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1919 Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear