J.Davilla Italian Aviation in the First World War. Vol.3: Aircraft M-W (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 75)

Macchi Parasol

  In 1912 the Italian War Ministry launched a competition to select an aeroplane for the Italian forces. The French aircraft industry was the most successful in the world, and it is not surprising that the Italians would choose to initiate aircraft production in partner with one of that county’s more successful firms.
  Carlo Felice Buzio, engineer Roberto Corsi, and capitano Costantino Biego di Costa Bissara, an artillery officer approached Giulio Macchi, an engineer living in Varese, about provided the necessary capital. Macchi agreed, and tasked Buzio and Corsi with negotiating with the French Nieuport firm an agreement to build their aircraft under licence.
  On 1 May 1913 in a meeting with Leon Paul Maurice Bazaine (representing the Nieuport company of Paris), Paolo Molina (the legal representative of the Macchi brothers of Varese), and Giovanni De Martini (of the Wolsit company of Legnano), together Macchi and Corsi the Nieuport-Macchi firm was born.
  The French would provide technical assistance and training for the nascent Italian aircraft industry. The also assisted in arranging for the supply of Gnome engines and many parts for the airframes.
  The first three 100 hp Nieuports were assembled by seven men working in a Varese shed used to build automobiles. In 1913, the company was awarded an order for the construction of 56 Nieuport monoplanes, for which the 80-hp Gnome engines and many structural parts would be purchased direct from France.
  These airplanes would be designated Ni.18 square meters or Nieuport 10, and were two-seaters intended for tactical reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and army cooperation duties.
  Meanwhile, drawing on the experience it had gained in building the Nieuports, Macchi was able to offer its first original design, the Parasol. The development of this aircraft was under the guidance of a test pilot named Clemente Maggiora, who had arrived at Varese in early 1914. The Parasol retained the same basic layout as the Nieuport 10, but had a parasol wing configuration, In the first year of the War, many aviators felt that an unobstructed view of the ground was necessary for reconnaissance and artillery spotting. Mounting the wing above the fuselage would be the most effective way to provide the observed with downward vision. This was also done with the Bleriot 11, where the shoulder mounted wing was replaced with a parasol on the Bleriot Type 11-2 Artillerie two-seater.
  Other changes to the Macchi Parasol was the elimination of the cumbersome landing gear skid, which was replaced by a conventional tail skid. Some Parasols had a vertical surface mounted above the wing at the centreline.
  On 4 December, 1914 a Macchi Parasol flown by Maggiora established three new world altitude records: 1. 4 December 1914 - 8,500 ft (2700 m) with two passengers (Count Patriarca and pioneering aviator Zanibelli) 2. 19 December 1914 - 12,300 ft (3750 m) in 38 minutes with one passenger
3. March 1915 - 12,430 ft (3790 m) with one passenger

Operational Service

  Nieuport-Macchi built 56 Nieuport 10s (for details see entry under Nieuport 4), as well as the 42 Macchi-Parasols. During the first months of the War two squadriglias using the type were assigned artillery spotting duties. A squadriglia equipped with Parasols for artillery co-operation was operational in the second half June of 1915 at Pordenone, later displaced to Medeuzza the following July. Assigned to the service of 3a Armata (Carso and Adriatic), it was particularly active over Gorizia. In the June and July 1915 the Parasol performed sporadic bombing missions to little effect. Therefore, they were fitted with R.T. Rouzet wireless units.
  The aircraft were removed from frontline service in November 1915.The pilot’s had complained that the aircraft was unstable and could not fly high enough to avoid AAA.

  The Macchi Parasols were not up to the task of operating in a combat environment, so in November the unit converted to Caudron G.3s.
  The Parasol had a strong structure and could be quickly disassembled for transport, but it was difficult to fly. The failure of the Parasol doomed the company’s chances of a large and lucrative contract for their first original design.


Macchi-Parasol two-seat reconnaissance aircraft with one 80-hp Gnome engine
  Wingspan 13,00 m; length 7,20 m; height 3,10 m; wing area 24,0 sq m
  Empty weight 400 kg; payload; 260 kg; loaded weight 660 kg
  Maximum speed 125 km/h; climb to 1000 m in 10 minutes; climb to 2,000 m in 26 minutes; ceiling 12,430 ft (3790 m) with one passenger, range 400 km
  A total of 42 built