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Mario Calderara was an Italian aviator and inventor who in 1912 designed, built and successfully flew the largest seaplane in the world at the time.

Passionate about flying from an early age, Calderara pursued a career in the Italian Navy. Inspired by the gliders of Otto Lilienthal, he convinced the Italian Navy to allow him to experiment with gliders on water. After risking his life on several failed attempts to launch from the water, he took a six-month leave of absence to study with the aeroplane manufacturer Gabriel Voisin, in Paris.

In 1910, Calderara applied to the Admiralty for permission to build a new type of airplane, which could take off and land on water. Seaplanes did not exist at the time, except for a French model designed by Fabre, which had many drawbacks.

It seems Calderara was always obsessed with flight. His classmates at school joked so much about his passion, one of them sketched him in different stages - first on a flying machine, secondly as it crashed to the ground, and later as he was rushed to hospital and then put to rest in a cemetery!

Calderara, like many other pioneers, was not deterred. On hearing about their successful attempts in flight, he wrote to the Wright brothers for technical advice and was pleasantly surprised when he received a response.

When war broke out, Calderara was deprived of his home near Paris when it was used as enemy property. His family went on to suffer further financial losses and in 1944, worn out by a life of challenges, Calderara died suddenly in his bed at the age of 65 years.