Recalling the Speed Rules of the Past

Schneider Trophy air races led the way to a place where no one goes.

Peter Garrison

Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at 08:55 AM ET

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Edited By: tccjeremy

Francesco Agello’s small—31-foot span—and elegantly shaped Macchi M.C.72. [Alamy]

Key Takeaways:

In 1935, Italian pilot Francesco Agello set an unsurpassed 441 mph speed record for piston-engine seaplanes with the Macchi M.C.72, which was for several years the absolute world speed record for all aircraft.
This record was the culmination of advancements spurred by the Schneider Trophy, a prestigious and often dangerous international seaplane competition held from 1912 to 1931.
The Schneider Trophy fostered significant technological evolution in aviation, transitioning seaplane designs from slow biplanes to powerful, streamlined monoplane floatplanes capable of extreme speeds.
Key designers like Macchi's Mario Castoldi and Supermarine's Reginald Mitchell (later known for the Spitfire) made substantial contributions to these high-performance seaplanes during the competition.

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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.