Mario Castoldi (February 26, 1888 - May 31, 1968) was an Italian aircraft engineer and designer.

Biography

Born in

Zibido San Giacomo Zidibo San Giacomo ( lmo, Zibid ) is a town in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in th ...

(

province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest populat ...

), Castoldi worked for the experimental center of Italian Military Aviation at

Montecelio Guidonia Montecelio (), commonly known as Guidonia, is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio, central Italy. Geography The municipality of Guidonia Montecelio, formed by the main towns of Guidonia and Montecelio, l ...

, not far from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1922 he moved to Macchi Aeronautica, where he became famous for designing a series of

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

s that set world speed records. His first winning plane was the Macchi M.39 seaplane. It was designed in 1925–26 to compete in the

Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded annually (and later, biennially) to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flyin ...

race of 1926. Powered (like all the Macchi planes from this time) by a Fiat engine it managed a top speed of 396 km/h (246 mph) and won the contest for that year. For the next four years, Castoldi designed several more racing seaplanes (the M.52, M.52R, and the M.67) which entered the Schneider Trophy races but they lost to the British racers (the Supermarine S.5, and the Supermarine S.6). Castoldi's most famous plane was the

Macchi M.C.72 The Macchi M.C. 72 is an experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi Aeronautica. The M.C. 72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five years. In 1933 and 1934 it set world speed records for pisto ...

(designed over three years from 1931 to 1933). At first, Castoldi hoped this plane would enter (and win) the Schneider Trophy race of 1931 but the plane could not be ready in time for that contest (the winner was the British Supermarine S.6B). As a result of three consecutive victories for the British, the Schneider races were over. But development on the M.C.72 continued. Jane's asserts that the Italian

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

Benito Mussolini personally supported the M.C.72 program (most likely as a part of his efforts to gain international prestige for Italy). Despite many setbacks, including the deaths of two test pilots who were flying the plane, the project continued and the plane got faster. In April, 1933 pilot

Francesco Agello Francesco Agello (27 December 1902 – 24 November 1942) was an Italian test pilot. Biography and flight achievements Born at Casalpusterlengo, Lombardy, Italy, Agello graduated from pilot school in 1924 and soon became a test pilot. He was ...

succeeded in setting a speed record for a

with a speed of 684 km/h. Still, work on improving the plane's speed continued as the design team hoped they could exceed a speed of 700 km/h. After a year and a half, this feat was accomplished as Agello, flying three passes in the M.C.72, attained an average speed of 709 km/h (440 mph) on October 23, 1934. This world speed record lasted for five years – but as a record for a piston-engine seaplane it has never been broken. After the M.C.72, Castoldi worked on designs for Italian fighters. However, he was limited by the inability of Fiat to provide more powerful engines. Later designs had to rely on German supplied engines. Castoldi was in charge of the design of a series of military fighter that formed the mainstay of Italian fighter force in World War II, specifically the C.200, C.202 and

Macchi C.205 The Macchi C.205 ''Veltro'' ( it, Greyhound) (also known as MC.205, "MC" standing for "Macchi Castoldi") was an Italian World War II fighter aircraft built by the Aeronautica Macchi. Along with the Reggiane Re.2005 and Fiat G.55, the Macchi C.205 ...

. In 1945 Castoldi retreated to private life. He died at Trezzano sul Naviglio in 1968. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castoldi, Mario 1888 births 1968 deaths People from the Province of Milan Aircraft designers 20th-century Italian engineers