page_title: Mario de Bernardi
section_title: Schneider Trophy races and world speed records
hierarchical_section_title: Mario de Bernardi / Flying achievements / Schneider Trophy races and world speed records
caption_attribution_description: English: Italian Macchi M.39 racing floatplane
context_page_description: Mario de Bernardi was an Italian World War I fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.
context_section_description: 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 13 November 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 17 November 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.
  On 26 September 1927, de Bernardi again was among the pilots representing Italy in the Schneider Trophy race, this time held in Venice, Italy. Flying a Macchi M.52 racing seaplane, de Bernardi was forced to retire early from the race with engine trouble. However, again flying an M.52, he set a world speed record of 479.290 kilometres per hour (297.817 mph) over a course of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) on 4 November 1927. He went on to set yet another world speed record on 30 March 1928, flying a Macchi M.52R racing seaplane 512.776 kilometres per hour (318.624 mph) at Venice, becoming both the first person to exceed 500 kilometres per hour (310 mph) and the first person to exceed 300 miles per hour (480 km/h).
caption: A Macchi M.39 racing seaplane.
exif: {"Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:30 19:58:33", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "110", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1306", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "901"}