Having obtained his pilot’s licence (1915), he fights in WWI. With the 36th Fighter Squadrilla, he downs eight enemy aircraft and, in 1918, the Austro-Hungarian ace Carlo Schuler. After the war, he continues his work as an aviator at the experimental airfields of Turin and Montecelio by joining the officer staff of the Italian Royal Air Force (1923). As the tester of the Rondine (Pegna-Bonmartini), from 1928 onwards, he sets a series of world altitude records at the controls of the Ansaldo AC.3 (11,817 meters), of the Fiat AS.1 and of the Caproni Ca.113 AQ. In 1930 he participates in the Air Tour of Italy with a Fiat TR.1. Captain of the Aeronautical Reserve of the Italian Royal Air Force (1934).
Bibliographical references
Mencarelli, Igino | 1980 Renato Donati. Roma: Ministero della difesa – Stato maggiore aeronautica – Ufficio storico aeronautica militare.
Pecchioli, Arrigo | 1986 (a cura di) L’aeronautica italiana: storia di uomini e macchine. Roma: Editalia.