In fall 1935, an Italian pilot named Francesco Agello set a speed record that has remained unsurpassed for 90 years. In fact, it will probably remain that way forever. It is the mark for hyper-fast piston-engine seaplanes, and they have gone the way of velociraptors.
Agello’s small—31-foot span—and elegantly shaped Macchi M.C.72 had two 12-cylinder engines bolted together end to end driving steeply pitched, contra-rotating propellers through coaxial shafts. By then, streamlining had gone as far as it could and speed was all about raw power.
