page_title: Macfie monoplane
section_title: Specifications
hierarchical_section_title: Macfie monoplane / Specifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Side and plan views of the Macfie Monoplane
context_page_description: The Macfie monoplane was a British shoulder wing, tractor monoplane. The aircraft was powered by a 35 hp J.A.P. V8 engine fixed at the front of an open-frame 'fuselage', at the rear end of which a tailplane and vertical rudder were mounted.
  It was designed, built, and flown by Robert Francis Macfie, an American-born engineer and early aviator who in 1909 moved to England to study engineering.
  The aircraft superficially resembled the Blériot XI in terms of overall configuration but was in almost every design detail different from this aircraft. Like the Blériot, control was effected using wing-warping via wires attached to king posts. However the Macfie monoplane incorporated many innovative features and in particular was designed for ease of construction, maintenance and repair.
  Later, during the First World War, Macfie persuaded the Landships Committee to consider the use of caterpillar tracks in designing an armoured fighting vehicle, which led to the first British tanks. He produced a number of designs of his own, but his attempts to have the ideas officially adopted were unsuccessful.
context_section_description: Data from Flight 5 March 1910 and Flight 12 March 1910
  General characteristics
  Crew: 1
  Length: 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
  Wingspan: 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
  Height: 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) height of propeller axis
  Wing area: 193 sq ft (17.9 m²) includes 24 sq.ft. (2.23 m²) for tailplane
  Empty weight: 680 lb (308 kg)
  Powerplant: 1 × J.A.P. V8 air-cooled, 35 hp (26 kW)   225 lb (102 kg)
  Propellers: 2-bladed Macfie, 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) diameter
  Performance
  Wing loading: 3.52 lb/sq ft (17.2 kg/m²)
  Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and eraBlériot XI
caption: Side and plan elevations of the Macfie Monoplane (from Flightglobal (see Bibliography))
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