Mario de Bernardi 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 . Early life . 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 pilots license in 1914 . Flying achievements . World War I . 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 . Schneider Trophy races and world speed records . 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 on a 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 over a circuit of 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 over a course of on November 4 , 1927 . He went on to set yet another world speed record on March 30 , 1928 , flying a Macchi M . 52R racing seaplane at Venice , becoming both the first person to exceed and the first person to exceed . Later career . At the turn of the 1930s de Bernardi joined the Caproni company at Taliedo , near Milan , serving as a test pilot and technical consultant . In 1931 he won the world aerobatics championship at Cleveland , Ohio , in the United States . In 1933 , de Bernardi piloted a Caproni Ca . 111 reconnaissance aircraft / light bomber with five passengers on board on a flight of from Rome , Italy , to Moscow in the Soviet Union . In 1939 , de Bernardi moved to Rome , where he resided for the rest of his life . In 1940 he began to participate in the development of the first remotely controlled aircraft intended for use as flying bombs . On August 27 , 1940 , de Bernardi piloted the Caproni Campini N . 1 - sometimes called " Caproni Campini CC . 2 " - experimental motorjet aircraft on its first flight ; the " Fédération Aéronautique Internationale " considered it the first successful flight of a jet aircraft until news of the August 1939 flight of the German Heinkel He 178 jet later became public . On November 30 , 1941 , de Bernardi flew an N . 1 from Milan to Guidonia Montecelio in about two hours carrying aerogram s with canceled postage stamps , becoming the first pilot to carry air mail in a jet aircraft . Death . On April 8 , 1959 , de Bernardi went to a Rome airport to see a German light plane demonstration , and flew his own light plane , showing off his aerobatic skills . While in the air , he began to experience a heart attack . He managed to land the aircraft , only to die minutes later at the age of 65 . Honors , Awards , and Commemoration . In 1926 , de Bernardi received the National Trophy - one of the four Harmon Trophies awarded at the time - as Italys outstanding aviator of that year . De Bernardi received the Gold Medal of Valor ( Aviation ) , given to " Reward acts of singular courage , skill , and philanthropy committed on board aircraft in flight . " De Bernardis achievements also led the Italian military to name the Italian Air Force s largest base , Pratica di Mare Air Force Base , located southwest of Rome , after him as " " Colonello " Mario de Bernardi " in 1959 . In March 2006 , a plaque honoring de Bernardi was placed at Via Panama 86 - his home from 1939 to 1959 - in Rome as his daughter Fiorenza looked on .