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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2157.PDF
492-493 FLIGHT International, 20 September 1961 Final assembly of 326s at the Macchi factory at Varese, north of Milan, orange all over The aircraft are painted One of the great men of Italian aviation, Commandante Guido Carestiato, Macchi's chief test pilot, who last year took a 326 to the Class C-ld record height of 49,977ft HIQH-MACCHI FLYING A VISIT | ORE than half of the initial order for fifty Macchi MB.326 trainers for the Italian Air Force have now been built at the company's Masnago factories at Varese in northern Italy. Of these, a number have already flown down to the Basic Training School at Lecce, far in the south, to form the nucleus of the new MB.326-equipped training unit which came into being in February. The formation of this unit is likely to have interesting consequences, because with the MB.326 the Italian Air Force has not only a very refined aircraft but also one of the first jet trainers to be designed to cater both for ab initio and advanced instruction. The design started as a private venture, and initial representations were made to the Italian Air Ministry in 1954 by Engineer Bazzochi, Macchi's technical director and chief engineer, whose brain-child the MB.326 was. A development contract for three prototypes was awarded, and the maiden flight of the first flight prototype (the second machine) was made with a Bristol Siddeley Viper 8 of 1,7501b thrust on December 10, 1957. The second prototype was fitted with the more powerful Viper 11 of 2,5001b thrust, and this engine, with the designation Viper 22, is the standard power unit for the production aircraft. The choice of the Viper was determined by its general simplicity and robustness, the fact that both r.p.m. and t.e.t. are relatively low, the ease of airframe installation, and the knowledge that mishand ling in the air was unlikely to cause trouble. Vipers for the MB.326 are to be produced under licence in Italy by Piaggio, under an agree ment signed with Bristol Siddeley two years ago. Following successful flight trials, a pre-production batch of 15 machines was ordered by the Italian Government for the Air Force, and a total order for 50 aircraft was subsequently placed. It is obvious that the whole Italian flying-training programme is coloured by the impending entry into service of the F-104G. Currently, pilots graduating from the T-6 and T-33 go direct to such combat aircraft as the F-84, F-86 and F-86K. There is a natural desire to minimize the number of aircraft types needed to Three of the 326s used in development flying at Pratica. Note canopy reflection of the pilot's helmet and seat
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