THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



47 



in the early dawn, the Austrian and Ger- 

 man planes come to bombard our open 

 cities and barbarously to destroy the art 

 treasures of Venice, of Padua, and of 

 Verona, then it is that our courageous 

 combat pilots mount at once to the sky 

 and, with firm hand and stout heart, meet 

 and bring down the invaders — as, for 

 instance, Major Baracca, who brought 

 down 30 of the enemy's machines, and 

 Colonel Piccio, who brought down 20. 



The achievements of Italian aviation 

 during the last three years have not been 

 confined to the theater of war. Its pilots 

 recently have established new world rec- 

 ords for non-stop nights, for speed and 

 altitude. The plaudits of the Allied na- 

 tions recently sounded for an Italian 

 aviator, Captain Laureati, who piloted a 

 Sia plane from Turin over the Alps, 

 across France and the English Channel to 

 London, a distance of 700 miles, without 

 alighting; but this distance record was 

 almost immediately eclipsed by the same 

 pilot, with another non-stop flight of 



1,004 miles, from Turin to Naples and re- 

 turn. Another Italian aviator, Lieuten- 

 ant Guidi, established the record for 

 highest flyer of the world when he took 

 his machine to a height of 26,400 feet, 

 five miles above the earth and more than 

 two miles above the summit of Mont 

 Blanc, the loftiest mountain of Europe. 



Sergeant Stoppani, piloting a one-seater 

 fighting airplane, type "Savoia-Verdu- 

 zio," on the 28th of September, 191 7, left 

 Turin at 2.45 p. m., crossed the Apen- 

 nines to the sea, and, following the shore 

 line, arrived in Rome at 5.35 p. m., cover- 

 ing a distance of 390 miles in two hours 

 and fifty minutes and at an average speed 

 of 138 miles an hour. 



These achievements are indicative of 

 the place Italy is expected to take in the 

 development of aviation when the world 

 is once more at peace and men's minds 

 may turn with confidence to the produc- 

 tive pursuits of transportation and inter- 

 national commerce. 



THE ITALIAN RACE 



WHILE most of America's air- 

 men will probably see service 

 above the battle-line which ex- 

 tends from the North Sea across Bel- 

 gium and France, they will not be for- 

 getful of the superhuman skill, daring, 

 and self-sacrifice of their allies beyond 

 the Alps, the intrepid Italians, whose 

 country produces no coal, no steel, and 

 food insufficient for her needs, yet has 

 managed for nearly three years to main- 

 tain her armies against the ceaseless ham- 

 mering of Austrian and German guns. 



Italy, the mother of civilization, of art, 

 and of science, and the cradle of intel- 

 lectual liberty, began fighting the invaders 

 from the North a thousand years before 

 the discovery of America. She has given 

 to the world Marcus Aurelius and Dante, 

 Columbus and John Cabot, Leonardo da 

 Vinci and Galileo, and in more recent 



days Volta, Galvani, Garibaldi, Verdi* 

 and Marconi. 



Just as the New World was given to 

 civilization by her two great navigators, 

 Columbus and Cabot, so the infinite 

 realms of space were revealed to man 

 through the gift of the telescope from 

 Galileo, that monumental genius who also 

 helped to perfect the compound micro- 

 scope which has made modern medicine 

 and modern chemistry possible. Like- 

 wise it is Marconi's gift of wireless 

 telegraphy which makes the observation 

 airplane a truly potent factor in battle. 



One of the marvels of human history 

 is this extraordinary Italian race, that for 

 2,000 years has blessed the world with 

 one succession of geniuses — musicians, 

 authors, creators of inspiration and ad- 

 vancement — from which all other peoples 

 have benefited. 



The Editor. 



