FRANCESCO DE PINEDO 1890-1933

Vitale Zacchetti, Francesco De Pinedo and Carlo Del Prete The crew of the Savoia 55 Santa Maria (Saint Mary) - 1927. from Il mio volo attraverso l'Atlantico e le due Americhe Courtesy of Giovanni Giorgetti, 11-23-05

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for Francesco de Pinedo using the Google search engine, (8-26-03), you will find about 450 links! Among the more useful are the following.

COMMANDER FRANCESCO DE PINEDO (1890-1933) The first pilot to fly a foreign aircraft to the United States New Orleans - March 29, 1927 75th Anniversary Commemoration in the United States of America under the auspices of Consul General Enrico Granara Italian Consulate General in Chicago      This website is a good place to start your search for information on the life and career of this Italian hero. Of special interest are two links, which may be seen at the right of the page. You will be well rewarded by clicking on The Lord of Distances and Canadian Site. Both websites may be accessed by clicking the the titles right below.

THE LORD OF DISTANCES by Don Fiore The life and deeds of Francesco de Pinedo      This website offers one of the best sources in English I have been able to find on the life and career of Francesco de Pinedo. It offers very comprehensive sections entitled Introduction, Biographical Background, Italy’s Aeronautical Policy of the 1920’s, De Pinedo's Milestone Flights, The Forgotten Hero and Home. By clicking on "Home", you will be directed back to the entry website which is found at the top of this listing.

FRANCESCO DE PINEDO B. NAPOLI 1890 --- D. NEW YORK 1933      This is a wonderful resource for learning about his life and career. The site offers many sections, some in English, others in Italian and is very comprehensive. Among the sections in English are: Francesco de Pinedo - Lord of Distances, Co-Pilot Carlo Del Prete, Poster of the Savoia Marchetti and Historic Floyd Bennet Airfield - N.Y. Unless you can read Italian, you may want to use the BabelFish machine translator to enjoy some of the other sections. You can access the site by clicking on the title above.        As time permits, you will be well rewarded by visiting as many of the other links as you can.

 

The Secret of Roosevelt Lake by Seymour Petrovsky Contributed by Fred Petrovsky, 4-9-09      In 1941, each pack of Wings Cigarettes came with one of 50 collectible cards that featured illustrations and descriptions of airplanes, from the Piper Cub Trainer to the P-38. I was 12 years old back then, and I collected them all. As a kid, my favorite hobbies were building model airplanes from balsa wood and collecting airmail stamps. I treasured my blue 10-cent airmail stamp of Charles Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. To me, flight represented freedom and adventure. If a subject had anything to do with airplanes, you had my attention.      In the early 1950s, I served with the 155th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Force, where beautiful, sleek P-51s were flown. Eventually, I moved to Arizona.      Flash forward to November, 1984. That month, I read a fascinating article in The Arizona Republic about the 1927 demise of an Italian seaplane, named the Santa Maria – an accident that had taken place in Arizona. I discovered that the depths of Central Arizona's Roosevelt Lake might still hold the remnants of the plane, and I was hooked.        To read the rest of this article, click on the link above.

 

Francesco de Pinedo Italian Air Force Historical Office Courtesy of Don Fiore

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RECOMMENDED READING

Il mio volo attraverso l'Atlantico e le due Americhe Con un proemio di Gabriele D'Annunzio.   Francesco de Pinedo   Product Details Hard: 279 pages Publisher: Ulrico - Hoepli - Editore - Milano - 1928

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359/76. (De Pinedo) DE PINEDO Francesco - Il mio volo attraverso l'Atlantico e le due Americhe 8° br. cop. ill. col. pp. 27-279 con 40 schizzi dell'A. 190 documenti fotografici in 130 tavole f.t. + 5 cart. a col. ripiegate Euro 72,00 "359/76. (De Pinedo) DE PINEDO Francisco - my flight through the Atlantic and the two Americas 8° br. cop. ill. col. pp. 27-279 with 40 sketches of To. 190 photographic documents in 130 tables f.t. + 5 cart. to col. refolded Euro 72,00" from Catalogo 76: Auto, moto, cicli, aerei, treni, navi

 

CARLO DEL PRETE E GLI AVIATORI LUCCHESI   Giorgio Giorgi   Product Details Paper: 79 pages, 8 1/4" x 11 3/4" Publisher: Associazione Arma di Lucca

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The book is for sale directly by the author at the price of 15 Euro + postal charges. Giorgio Giorgi Via Aleardi, 13 56010 Marina di Quosa (Pi) Italy email: magodellavvio@libero.it

Carlo Del Prete E Gli Aviatori Lucchesi English translation courtesy of Giovanni Giorgetti, 11-20-05      This summary of the Index of the book displays the comprehensive nature of the author's scholaship. Clearly it is a very valuable resource for anyone who reads Italian and who wishes to understand the contributions of the Italians to the development of aviation. You can read the summary by clicking on: Index

 
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Review: By Ralph Cooper      I recently received a copy of this book as a gift from the author, Giorgio Giorgi. Even though unfortunately I can't read Italian, I can still enjoy the many photographs which he has assembled to illustrate the text. The first chapter of the book recounts the trans-atlantic flight of the Santa Maria in 1927, with special attention to Carlo Lamberto Leone Del Prete, one of the three pilots of the plane. Among the several illustrations is included a very nice portrait of Il Gen. Francesco de Pinedo, and two maps on which their route from Italy to Brazil is traced. This is a very valuable resource for anyone who is interested in early aviation and aviators in general and the early developments in Italy in particular.

 

Francesco de Pinedo died in 1933.

 

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