The marchioness Carina Massone Negrone (20 June 1911 in

Bogliasco Bogliasco () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa. Together with the ''comuni'' of Camogli, Recco, Pieve Ligure and Sori, it is part of the so-call ...

– 19 March 1991 in Bogliasco) was an Italian

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

. She is considered to be one of the first heroines of the sky.

Biography

Married to the marquis Ambrogio Negrone (with whom she had a son, Vittorio), she was the first Italian woman to obtain (in 1933) a pilot's license from the Reale Unione Nazionale Aeronautica (RUNA). A keen

sportswoman Women and girls have participated in sports, physical Physical fitness, fitness, and exercise throughout history. However, the extent of their involvement has varied depending on factors such as country, time, geographical location, and level o ...

(

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

ski Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins c ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

), she preferred

flying Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * '' Flying (Cody Fry album)'', 2017 * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ...

, an activity that at the time was mainly practised by men, the intended interpreters of the manly dynamism encouraged by

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

and

Fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

. On 5 May 1934, she established her first personal record by flying at an altitude of 5,544 metres with a ''Class C''

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

. Following this achievement and with the support of her friend

Italo Balbo Italo Balbo (6 June 1896 – 28 June 1940) was an Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italian fascist politician and Blackshirts' leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force, Governor-General of Italian Libya and Commander-in-Chief of Italian ...

, she decided to attempt to beat

Maryse Hilsz Maryse Hilsz (7 March 1901 – 30 January 1946) was a French aviator known for high altitude and endurance flights. She served with the French Resistance during World War II and died in an air crash in 1946. Early life Marie-Antoinette Hilsz wa ...

's world record of 11,289 metres. As preparation, she trained as an air force pilot at

Guidonia 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 ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

. On 20 June 1935, Carina took off from the Guidonia Montecelio base on a

Caproni Caproni, also known as ''Società de Agostini e Caproni'' and ''Società Caproni e Comitti'', was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Its main base of operations was at Taliedo, near Linate Airport, on the outskirts of Milan. Founded by Giova ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

equipped with a Pegasus 1110 engine, taking with her a heated jacket and

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

cylinder. Due to air

rarefaction Rarefaction is the reduction of an item's density, the opposite of compression. Like compression, which can travel in waves (sound waves, for instance), rarefaction waves also exist in nature. A common rarefaction wave is the area of low relati ...

and low temperature at high altitude (down to -35

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius temperature scale "Celsius temperature scale, also called centigrade temperature scale, scale based on 0 ° for the melting point of water and 100 ° for the boiling point ...

), her medical staff did not expect her to fly beyond an altitude of 11,000 metres. However, despite a state of daze (that she referred to as euphoria), through sheer determination she reached 12,043 metres (39,402 feet), thus beating Hilsz's record by 754 metres. Her record still stands for that category of

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

-powered planes. She went on to achieve 7 additional flying world records, the last of which was on 19 June 1954, flying from

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

(

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

) - 2,987 km in 13 hours 34 minutes, at an average speed of 299 km per hour. In 1951 she took part in an aerial tour of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

alongside Ada Marchelli on a

Macchi Macchi is an Italian surname, the patronymic or plural form of the old personal name ''Macco'' from the Latin '' Maccus''. It is possibly a variant of '' macchia''. Notable people with the surname include: * Aurelio Macchi (1916–2010), Argenti ...

monoplane. She took part in various international competitions and she eventually founded a pilot school. A

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...

with a face value of L. 750 was issued in her honour by

Poste Italiane Poste Italiane (, , abbr. PT) is the Italy, Italian postal service provider. Besides providing postal services, Poste Italiane offers communications, Postal savings system, postal savings products, logistics, and Financial services, financial a ...

in 1996. A square has been dedicated to Carina Negrone in her home town.See
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Notes

Bibliography

* Massimo Zamorani, ''Nel cielo di Genova: due secoli di voli'', Ecig, Genova 1986 (in Italian) *Massimo Zamorani, ''Vola Genova. Cento anni di volo'', De Ferrari, Genova 1997 (in Italian)

External links

Aeroclub Genova - Approfondimento biografico
(in Italian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Negrone, Carina Massone 1911 births 1991 deaths Italian aviation pioneers Italian women aviators Women aviation record holders Italian aviation record holders

Biography

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links