Mario Pezzi

Fossano, 1898-Rome, 1967

The Records

As a second lieutenant of the Infantry, in May 1918 he attends the school for air observer cadets and is assigned to the 134th Squadrilla. An officer of the Italian Royal Air Force (1923), he then goes on to obtain his pilot’s licence (1926). As Commander of the High Altitude Division (1934), he is assigned to the Guidonia Testing Center (1936). In 1937 he reaches an altitude of 15,655 m. (Caproni Ca.161), a record he beats (17,083 m.) on 22 October 1938 with a Caproni Ca.161 bis fitted with a pressurized cockpit. This record was to be beaten only in 1995 for the propeller class aircraft. After being a prisoner in eastern Africa, he returns home after 8 September and resumes service in the Italian Co-belligerent Air Force. Gold Medal of Aeronautic Valor.