Movies and Reality - Red Winds Over the Adriatic Sea: The Story Behind Porco Rosso Explains the Macchi M.33's Plate Heat Exchanger The British and Italians in the Schneider Cup battle over the superiority and inferiority of airships and pontoon seaplanes

Common pseudonym: Führer's Guard

Since 2000, he has published many original articles on military history websites such as "The Art of War" and "German Military Center" and print media such as "Assault" and "War History Research", and translated many German films and television series Chinese subtitles

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This article is the last update of the Lunar Year of the Rat on the Dusk Of the Gods, as the presiding officer, I would like to thank all the subscribers and wish you all the same in the Year of the Ox, and plough all over the Spring of Wanyuan.

Recently, I revisited the 1992 animated film "Red Pig" (红の dolphin) directed by Hayao Miyazaki on TV.

This is one of the few adult-themed works produced by Studio Ghibli, and the protagonist, Rosso, is an ace pilot of the Italian Air Force in World War I, but he is magically transformed into a pig

The symbol "pig" is a metaphor for people who have been alienated in war, and about dreams and loves that have been cursed. "Flying" is actually Miyazaki's own dream, the love of flying machines and the presentation of the ultimate ability, but also throughout each of his works, from "Valley of the Wind", "Castle in the Sky", "Witch House Rush", "Hal's Moving Castle" all the way to "The Wind Rises", no second person is more addicted to the imagination and design of various aircraft than him, and "Porco Rosso" is the pinnacle of his flying feelings, the Adriatic bounty hunters and air battles in the film, more like the courage between men, The magical game of performing the art of flying has enchanted countless male audiences.

There are already many humanistic and ethical analysis networks for the plot of this film, and this time we will follow the purpose of this number and talk about the examination of the aircraft that appeared in the film and the history of aviation flight in the context of the times at that time

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Porco Rosso landline</h1>

The airship piloted by the protagonist, Porco Rosso, is set to be siai S.21 produced by società Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI) in 1921 for the Schneider Cup flying competition. SIAI acquired the Società Anonima Costruzioni Aeronautiche Savoia in 1915, hence the name Savoia.

The same 1/72 board from Japanese model maker Fine Molds

The Schneider Cup is the Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider (or Schneider Trophy) initiated by The French aviation enthusiast Jacques P. Schneider (1879-1928), and each aircraft departs at 15-minute intervals and flies 350 kilometers around the triangle route, with an average speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Jacques Schneider

Held eleven times from 1913 to 1931, the flying race was a well-known event in the international aviation community at that time, and often attracted a large audience. The average speed of the Schneider Cup in 18 years has also increased by 7.5 times from 73.56 km/h in the first edition to 547.31 km/h in the last edition.

However, in terms of physical characteristics, Porco Rosso's landplane should be based on the Macchi M.33 airship, although the wing position is not the same as the vertical tail shape.

In the animation, he mentions that the aircraft had competed in the Schneider Cup flying competition a year earlier, and that on the same occasion he had his first meeting with the animation's nemesis Curtis.

The M.33 represented Italy at the 7th Schneider Cup in Baltimore, Maryland, usa, on 26 October 1925, with Giovanni de Briganti finishing third with an average speed of 271.08 km/h. This was also the last time a seaplane in an airship configuration competed.

Briganti shot down several enemy aircraft in World War I and was eventually promoted to lieutenant; became a test pilot after the war. On November 8, 1937, the second prototype of the Fiat G.50 was test-flown and died when it crashed.

The same championship was won by James Harold Doolittle, then a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, driving the Curtiss R3C-2 at an average speed of 374.27 km/h.

Doolittle is a pioneer in military aviation in the U.S. Army and the first Doctor of Aeronautical Engineering in the United States. He is best known for his April 18, 1942, when he led 16 North American B-25B bombers with the rank of lieutenant colonel at the beginning of the Pacific War to attack Tokyo from the USS Hornet CV-8, known as the Doolittle Raid. The first shot fired by the Allies in counterattacking the Japanese was minimally damaging to the Japanese, but extremely insulting.

Doolittle boys, Doolittle and all combatants on the flight deck of the USS Hornet, U.S. Navy, April 18, 1942

Curtis's landplane in the anime is based on the 7th Schneider Cup champion Curtis R3C-2 pontoon seaplane, and the name of this fictional character is obviously derived from the manufacturer of the aircraft.

The same 1/72 board also produced by Japanese model manufacturer Fine Molds

It follows from this that the animation is one year after the 7th Schneider Cup, that is, between 1926 and 1927. The Royal Italian Air Force Fiat CR.20 land-based fighter jet and the Savoia-Marchetti S.55 airship, which are hunted at the end of the anime, are the latest sharp models that began service in 1926 and 1927.

< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > plate heat exchanger of The M.33</h1>

The engine layout of Porco Porco Rosso's early landline in the animation is indeed similar to that of the Macchi M.33, which uses a 500-horsepower Cortis D-12A liquid-cooled engine.

Plate-type heat exchangers/radiators for engine coolant protrude outwards on either side of the rear of the engine compartment. It also looks like a fin.

Plate heat exchangers were obsolete by 1925. In order to reduce air resistance, the curtis R3C-2 has placed heat exchangers in the upper and lower main wings, with the main wing metal skin as the heat dissipation surface.

This new design, collectively known as the surface-type heat exchanger, is the mainstream of the Schneider Cup post-competition machine. For example, the British Xiubo Marlin S.6B, which won the championship in 1931, used the upper surface of the pontoon as the heat dissipation surface of the surface heat exchanger.

<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a deadly battle between Britain and Italy in the Schneider Cup</h1>

Since 1925, the Schneider Cup seaplane flying race has been said to be reginald Joseph Mitchell (1895-1937), an engineer at the Supermarine Aeronautic Works in the United Kingdom, and Mario Castoldi, an engineer at Macchi Aeronautica. 1888-1968) showdown:

Reginald Mitchell

Mario Castordi

• Hugh Marlene S.4 in 1925 failed to finish

• Won the 1926 Markey M.39

• In 1927, the Show Po marlin S.5 won the championship and the Markey M.52 failed to finish

• In 1929, the Show Marlin S.6 won the championship, The Markey M.52R finished third, and the Markey M.67 failed to finish

• The Marchi M.C.72, which won the 1931 Show Marlin S.6B and holds the current piston-powered propeller seaplane speed record of 709.21 km/h, did not qualify (M.C is the abbreviation of designer Mario Castoldi).

Porco Rosso's friend Ferrarin in the Royal Italian Air Force also pilots a Macchi M.39 or M.52 in the anime.

Mitchell completed the Type 224 prototype of the world's classic supermarine Spitfire in 1934 and the Type 300 in 1936, but died of rectal cancer in 1937.

Castoldi designed the Rafic's main fighters in World War II, the Saetta, C.202 Folgore, and C.205 Greyhound ( Veltro).

Both applied their experience in the Schneider Cup flying races to fighter jet design, but this is very different from Jacques Schneider's idea of launching a competition to improve fast and convenient civilian seaplane transportation.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the advantages and disadvantages of airships and pontoon seaplanes</h1>

The difference between flying boats and floatplanes is that the former touches the water with a boat-like fuselage; the latter touches the water with a pontoon. The Short-Mayo Composite, which first flew in September 1937, clearly shows the structural differences between the two.

The pontoon and connecting truss structure of the pontoon seaplane will produce greater air resistance during flight, but the pontoon configuration angle design can increase the wing inclination angle during take-off and landing, and reduce the speed and path required for take-off and landing. Conversely, the streamlined fuselage of the airship has less air resistance during flight, but is more difficult due to insufficient wing inclination when taking off and landing.

In terms of load, airships can be larger, but pontoon seaplanes cannot be oversized due to the strength limitations of the pontoon truss structure. The largest pontoon seaplane was the Italian CANT Z.511, which first flew in October 1940, with a fuselage length of 28.5 meters, a wingspan of 39.86 meters and a total weight of 34 tons.

The largest airship ever made was the Hughes H-4 Hercules, which first flew in November 1947, with a fuselage length of 66.65 meters, a wingspan of 97.54 meters and a total weight of 180 tons.

However, in terms of racing, high speed must be equipped with both large and heavy high-horsepower engines, and the size of the propeller must also be increased. In order to avoid propeller contact with water, the airship configuration must be increased by the fuselage, or the engine must be moved up as much as possible. However, the fuselage's elevated and upward-moving engine truss and the independent presence of the engine greatly increased the air resistance, losing the advantage of the original airship streamlined fuselage.

Pontoon seaplanes, because the fuselage is far from the water, have the advantage of flexible configuration of aerodynamic configuration, and it is not a problem to carry a high-horsepower engine and a large-size propeller.

In the anime, Porco Rosso is difficult to take off and land, but is very dexterous in flying to evaluate its landline. Airship take-off and landing is as difficult as mentioned above; dexterity may be due to the aerodynamic unstable structure of the landline, when the air flow disturbance or touch the joystick, the aircraft will immediately react and can not change back on its own, the pilot must be controlled in real time. For experienced pilots, this instability translates into maneuvering flexibility, which can be very helpful for aerobatics or air combat struggles.

With the main thrust of the Schneider Cup racing, not only did liquid-cooled engines with low air resistance become mainstream, but the aviation industry also assessed that it would take ten years for engines to evolve to the next generation, and thus quickly compressed to two years. In summary, if speed is the main requirement, the airship configuration will naturally lose its advantage after the engine is strengthened to a certain extent. However, if the competition is for pay capacity or maneuvering flexibility, the airship configuration can still compete.

Due to the advantages and disadvantages of the flying characteristics of airships and pontoon seaplanes, the British Blackburn B.20, which first flew on 26 March 1940, tried to combine the two into one, truncated and complemented each other. The aircraft uses pontoons during take-off and landing, and the pontoons under the body and wings are retracted into airships when flying. However, the aircraft did not continue to be developed after the test flight crash on April 7 of the same year.