Caterina (Carina) Massone Negrone

Bogliasco, 1911-1991

The Records

After obtaining her pilot’s licence (1933), in 1934 she sets her first altitude record (5,544 meters). Thanks to this successful feat, and with the support of Italo Balbo, she decides to try and beat the record set by the Frenchwoman Maryse Hilsz (11,289 meters) and to do this she trains as a military pilot at the Guidonia Montecelio airport. In 1935 she reaches an altitude of 12,043 meters at the controls of a Caproni Ca.113 powered by a Pegasus 1110 engine. She then sets another seven world records, the last one on 19 June 1954, by flying from Ghedi (Brescia) to Luxor, in Egypt (2,987 km), in thirteen hours and 34 minutes and at an average speed of about 299 km/h.

Bibliographical references
Pecchioli, Arrigo | 1986 (a cura di) L’aeronautica italiana: storia di uomini e macchine. Roma: Editalia.