The Schneider Trophy moved to the Western Hemisphere for the first time in 1925. It had been scheduled for Baltimore, Md., between September 19 and 21, 1924, but neither Britain nor Italy had any aircraft ready at that time, so the Americans sportingly postponed the race until October 23–26, 1925, to allow their European rivals to compete. Italy shipped two Macchi M.33 flying boats to Baltimore, while Britain pinned its hopes on the new Supermarine S.4 floatplane, a monoplane powered by a 700-hp Napier Lion engine. During a high-speed trial flight, however, the S.4 developed aileron flutter and pancaked into the Chesapeake Bay. Though its pilot, Henry Biard, bobbed to the surface, the British were left with only a Gloster III biplane. This time the U.S. Army Air Service fielded the principal American contender, a Curtiss R2C-2, powered by a 610-hp Curtiss V-1400 engine, and 1st Lt. James H. Doolittle piloted it to victory, averaging 232.573 mph over the 217-mile course. Second place went to Britain’s Hubert Broad in the Gloster III, with an average of 199.16 mph.

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At that point, the United States had not only surprised Europe with the performance of its Curtiss seaplanes, but it stood only one victory away from permanent possession of the trophy. The next race was scheduled for October 24, 1926. Yet at that same time, America was turning away from racing in favor of a more profitable venture, air transport, while the U.S. Congress was losing interest in allotting taxpayers’ money to building military racing planes. In Europe, however, the holiday atmosphere traditionally surrounding the Schneider Trophy race was acquiring an earnest undercurrent, as national governments became involved — especially that of Fascist Italy. While U.S. Army and Navy funding was being reduced and the British and French still depended primarily on the aircraft manufacturers and commercial or private sponsors for financial support, Italian aircraft firms had the enthusiastic backing of Benito Mussolini, who had decreed that the Schneider Trophy would be won by Italy in 1926, no matter what difficulties had to be overcome.

Accepting Il Duce’s challenge was Mario Castoldi, chief designer for Aeronautica Macchi, who abandoned flying boats in favor of the twin-float configuration and adopted Tranquillo Zerbi’s new 882-hp Fiat AS-2 V-12 engine. This was modeled after the D-12 wet sleeve monoblock engine that Charles B. Kirkham had designed and Curtiss had built, but with several added refinements, including the ingenious use of magnesium alloys. Castoldi shipped four of his racing red M.39s to Norfolk, Va., for the 1926 race, but the new planes proved tricky to fly, as the high torque and heavy floats gave them a tendency to lean dangerously during takeoff. Moreover, one of the new engines caught fire during a trial run, while another broke a connecting rod and then failed a second time after Italian mechanics had spent a sleepless night trying to repair it.

The 1926 race was delayed until November 11, but even by then Supermarine’s chief engineer, Reginald Joseph Mitchell, had not yet completed Britain’s entry, while the U.S. Navy had simply provided more power to the Curtiss R3C-2 airframe by installing a new 700-hp Packard 2A-1500 engine in the R3C-3 and a Curtiss V-1500 in the R3C-4. The Americans suffered a tragic setback when one of the Navy contestants, Lieutenant Frank Conant, died after crashing his Curtiss on the way to Norfolk. Then, on the day before the race, one of the R3C-3s crashed during landing, though its pilot, Lieutenant William G. Tomlinson, survived.

During the first six laps of the race, Navy Lieutenant George T. Cuddihy broke Doolittle’s record with an average speed of 239.191 mph, but in the seventh he had to drop out with a broken fuel pump, just within sight of the finish line.

Lieutenant Charles F. Schildt of the U.S. Marine Corps flew his Curtiss to a maximum of 231 mph, but he ended up settling for second place when Regia Aeronautica Major Mario de Bernardi averaged 246.5 mph, in spite of having to climb his M.39 to 600 feet in order to cool his overheating engine. Soon after crossing the finish line, de Bernardi sent Mussolini a cable announcing, Your orders to win at all costs have been carried out, and then returned home to riotous celebrations. His victory left Jimmy Doolittle as the last American to win the Schneider Trophy, and the last man to do so in a biplane. The 1927 race was held in Venice between September 25 and 26. In addition to an upgraded version of the M.39, Italy entered four Macchi M.52s, the wings of which were of shorter span than the M.39’s and had moderate sweepback. Power for the M.52s was provided by a high-compression 1,000-hp Fiat AS-3 V-24 engine. Again, the new engines proved to be dangerously unreliable — one Italian pilot was killed during test flights, leaving only three pilots available once the race began: Frederico Quazetti, Arturo Ferrarin and de Bernardi.

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