Mario de Bernardi
| Mario de Bernardi | |
|---|---|
Then-Lieutenant Mario de Bernardi is third from right in this photograph of pilots of the Italian 91st Fighter Squadron during World War I.
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| Born |
July 1, 1893 Venosa, Italy |
| Died | April 8, 1959 (aged 65) Rome, Italy |
| Occupation |
World War I fighter pilot Air racer Test pilot |
Mario de Bernardi (1893–1959) was an Italian World War I fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.
De Bernardi was born on July 1, 1893, in Venosa, Italy. In 1911, at the age of 18, he served in the Italian armed forces during the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912), where he witnessed the first military use of airplanes in combat. He returned to Italy resolved to become a pilot, and he received his pilot's license in 1914.
When Italy entered World War I (1914–1918) on the side of the Allies in 1915, de Bernardi was in the 2nd Regiment of the Piedmont Royal Cavalry. He joined the Italian Air Service and became the first Italian credited with destroying an enemy aircraft in the air when he shot one down over Verona. By the end of the war in November 1918 he had received credit for the destruction of four Austro-Hungarian aircraft with an additional one unconfirmed kill.
De Bernardi later became an aircraft parts inspector and the director of the experimental airfields at Guidonia Montecelio, Furbara, and Vigna di Valle.
After World War I, de Bernardi began racing seaplanes in the international races being held at the time. Perhaps his greatest success in these races came on November 13, 1926, when then-Major de Bernardi, representing Italy, won the Schneider Trophy race at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in the United States. He completed the course in a Macchi M.39 with an average speed of 396.698 kilometres per hour (246.497 mph) on a 350-kilometer (217-mile) circuit; this was a new world speed record for seaplanes. Four days later, on November 17, 1926, he broke his own record, attaining a speed in the same M.39 of 416.618 kilometres per hour (258.874 mph) over a circuit of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at Hampton Roads.
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