In 1930, Macchi built a new version of its M.41bis flying boat fighter designed for launching by catapult from warships of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy).

The new aircraft, the M.71, built to the same dimensions as the M.41bis and aerodynamically very clean for an aircraft of its type, was identical to the M.41bis in most ways, being a wooden, single-seat, single-bay biplane armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns, plywood and fabric skinning, unstaggered wings of equal span, a 313 kW (420 hp) Fiat A.20 engine driving a pusher propeller mounted on struts above the hull and below the upper wing, and fitted with a vertical radiator.

The M.71 differed from the M.41bis in having a stronger wing cellule and catapult pick-up points and, to facilitate rapid assembly and disassambly during shipboard operations, it had inclined steel tube struts between the hull, interplane struts, and upper wing section instead of the M.41bis's bracing wires.

[1] The Regia Marina accepted the M.71 for service, and Macchi built a small number of them, probably no more than twelve.

[2] Data from Italian Civil & Military Aircraft 1930-1945[3] and The Complete Book of Fighters[4]General characteristics Performance Armament