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 in the Macchi M.C.72, a feat of extreme power and streamlining that remains unbroken.
Agello's record was the culmination of the Schneider Trophy contests, an international competition held from 1912 to 1931 that significantly spurred aeronautical progress and seaplane design.
The Schneider Trophy drove the evolution of seaplanes from early slow biplanes to advanced, powerful monoplanes, with nations investing heavily in pushing the boundaries of speed and efficiency.
Key designers like Mario Castoldi (Macchi) and Reginald Mitchell (Supermarine) emerged from these contests, although the direct lineage between Mitchell's Schneider designs and the iconic Spitfire is disputed.

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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.