You have to Google this . . . the Schneider Cup was a fab thing in the 1930's, THE place to be when it came to speed. And since airports were scarce most thinkers thought seaplanes were the wave to come. WW II changed that of course but during the 30's there was a lot of interest in seaplanes (see other stories under the Aviation label).
So here comes Italy with the awesome TWIN IN LINE 12 cylinder (presumably liquid-cooled) engines powering two counter-rotating props through, get this, a hollow drive shaft.
I know. This is why I said Gearheads in the title. The first two models crashed or blew up midair so the third volunteer must have had quite a dose of confidence. He set a world record of 448 mph in this rocket. That record was not broken until a Russian did better in a jet powered seaplane in 1961.
Note; thank you Jack Brooks for sending the photos and firing my curiosity. One last question I have is where is this plane displayed?
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