1879-1944 (Italian Pilot's License No. 1)
Mario Calderara was born in Verona on October 10th, 1879, the
son of an army officer. From early days he was attracted by life at sea
and entered the Naval Academy in Livorno in 1898, where he graduated as
midshipman in 1901. He became interested in aviation and made some
experiments in 1903 and 1904 with primitive gliders. He also performed
aerodynamic experiments together with the Italian engineer Canovetti.
In 1905 Calderara wrote to the Wright brothers after hearing about
their successful flights. He was positively received and the
correspondence was the basis of lifelong relationship with the Wrights.
In 1906 Calderara got permission from the Italian Navy to carry out
experiments with a float-equipped glider towed by a motorboat. His
experiments continued until an accident in 1907, when the glider
crashed and he was pulled down into the water by its wires. He was
taken to hospital half-drowned and slightly injured, whereupon the Navy
declared the experiments too risky and forbid him to continue.
In 1908 Calderara was granted a six months leave in order to work for
the Voisin brothers. He had assisted in the design of several airplanes
when Ambroise Goupy, a wealthy Frenchman, offered to fund the
development of a tractor biplane. The machine, the "Calderara
Goupy", flew in March 1909, the first successful machine of its
configuration.
After the sensational demonstration of the Wright Flyer in France in
1908 the Italian Aero Club invited Wilbur Wright to Rome. They offered
to purchase an airplane and asked him to train one or two Italian
pilots. Calderara was selected as the first trainee. Wilbur Wright came
to Rome in April 1909 and gave some lessons to Calderara and Umberto
Savoia. After Wright's departure, Calderara made several flights
before crashing on May 6th. He was concussed, but after recovering in
the hospital, he and Savoia repaired the machine and he resumed
flights.
Calderara was allowed to use the Wright at the September 1909 Brescia
meeting. He suffered a bad setback when the machine was badly damaged
when a hurricane blew down its hangar nine days before the start of the
meeting. He was offered a second example by Ariel, the French Wright
licensees, and despite several accidents and incidents and much repair
work he won second most prize money after Glenn Curtiss. Based on his
performance at Brescia he was granted Italian pilot's licence No.
1.
Calderara's fame did apparently not sit well with the military
establishment. It was intended that he would train pilots on the
Calderara Goupy, but in the autumn of 1910 the plane was damaged beyond
repair by being stored in the open. Shortly afterwards he was assigned
to the Ministry of the Navy, where he had nothing to do with flying.
Calderara applied to the Admiralty for permission to build an airplane
that could take off and land on water. The seaplane flew successfully
in the spring of 1912, carrying three passengers.
As World War 1 approached, the Italian Navy again forced Calderara to
leave aviation and return to naval assignments. During the war he
served on several warships and ultimately commanded a torpedo ship in
the Adriatic. Towards the end of 1917 he became commander of a new
seaplane flying school for American naval officers. The school was
active throughout 1918 and until July 1919 with no casualties. This was
an exceptional demonstration of safety and skill in those days, and
Calderara was decorated by the US Navy.
Between 1923 and 1925 Calderara was assigned to the Italian embassy in
Washington as air attaché. After returning to Italy he decided to leave
the Italian Navy, where he felt he had many enemies and no
opportunities. He moved to Paris with his family and worked as
representative for US aviation corporations. In 1939, when World War 2
broke out, Calderara had to move again and seek protection in Italy.
His house near Paris was expropriated as enemy property, and the family
suffered further financial losses. On March 18th, 1944, worn out by
these challenges and in bad health because of a life of chain smoking,
he died suddenly in his bed.
Calderara was granted Italian pilot's license No. 1 on September
12th, 1909.
Mario Calderara participated in the following air race
meetings:
- Brescia 1909