Crazy Boy

Nearest thing on earth to a human bullet is not Ringling Brothers' famed Hugo Zacchini who is shot out of a cannon but a swart little Italian named Francesco Agello. Last year at Lake Garda in northern Italy Agello flew a Macchi-Fiat seaplane to a world speed record of 423.8 m.p.h.--more than seven miles per minute (TIME, April 17, 1933). For that the Royal Italian Air Force upped him from warrant officer to second lieutenant. Last week Lieut. Agello beat his own record by flying the same ship four times over a measured course at Lake Garda at an average speed of 440.6 m.p.h.--fastest time ever made by man.

Francesco Agello hopes some day to fly 500 m.p.h., may even reach 600 which is the objective set for Italy's Scuola di Alta Velocit`a (high speed school) by its founder, Italo Balbo. Last surviving member of Italy's 1931 Schneider Cup Team, tiny Lieut. Agello, 32, is called "Crazy Boy" by his fellows. Promoted again after last week's record flight, he beamed : "Now I can get married."

What makes Agello's conventional looking Red Bullet plane so fast is its 3,500-h.p. Fiat motor, its double propellers rotating in opposite directions on hollow shafts. Because it lands so "hot" (130 m.p.h.), the Red Bullet is probably the world's most dangerous plane to fly.

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