On this day in aviation history, 89 years ago (May 8, 1937), Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi broke the World Altitude Record by flying to an altitude of 15,655 meters (51,362 feet). Pezzi was born on November 8, 1898. He was not the only aviator in the family, as his brother Enrico also grew up to serve as a general in the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force). Mario joined up with the Royal Italian Army in October of 1917, where he would serve with the 60th Infantry Regiment “Calabria.” He would be promoted to second lieutenant in 1918 and receive his pilot’s license in 1926.
Mario Pezzi is highly regarded as an Italian aviation pioneer for his multiple high-altitude record-breaking flights. His initial record-setting flight in 1937 was flown in a Caproni Ca.161, a conventional biplane designed specifically for a high-altitude flight attempt. The Ca.161 was developed from the Ca.113 design. The Ca.161 was an open-cockpit, but the pilot wore a pressurized flight suit. A 750-horsepower Piaggio P.XI R.C.100/2v 14-cylinder radial engine, driving a four-bladed propeller, powered the aircraft. The Ca.161 could attain a maximum airspeed of 60 mph, but speed was not the aircraft’s primary purpose. What mattered was the Caproni’s service ceiling of 56.047 feet, and a 2,020 feet per minute rate of climb. A year after his initial altitude record flight on May 8, 1937, Pezzi would again attempt to reach new heights. On October 22, 1939, while flying the more powerful Ca.161bis, Pezzi reached an altitude of 56,047 feet (defining the aircraft’s service ceiling seen above). As of 2024, this record still stands for piston-powered biplanes and for crewed single-engine piston aircraft.
