Three floatplanes ride down a wing made of cloud, nose to tail, toward a globe waiting in the corner like a landing marker. A shipbuilder drew this page — and it shows: the aircraft are seaplanes, machines half of the water.
«PER L’AUTARCHIA» runs up one edge of the cloud-wing, «FORZE DEL LAVORO ITALIANO» down the other. The copy names the range with some pride: from «the glorious record-breaking machines of Stoppani’s primati» to the small touring aircraft, from «lightning seaplane fighters» to the most modern «espressi aerei», the OFFICINE AERONAUTICHE DI MONFALCONE give the power and the civil development of the new imperial Italy «opere di geniale perfezione». The black banner at the foot carries the parent: CANTIERI RIUNITI DELL’ADRIATICO.
Ships, and the aircraft that grew beside them
The Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico were constituted in Trieste on 18 September 1930, from the fusion of the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino and the Cantiere Navale Triestino — a group that built merchant and naval ships, marine diesels, boilers and turbines, railway stock and, at Monfalcone, aircraft. The Monfalcone aeronautical works were the home of the CANT seaplanes, and the «primati di Stoppani» the copy invokes belong to Mario Stoppani (Lovere 1895 – 1959), First World War ace and one of the great test pilots of his generation, whose record flights on the firm’s seaplanes were front-page material in those years. The sheet advertises no single machine: it advertises the fact that a shipyard could also fill the sky.
Marks and date
The collector gives this sheet to Erberto Carboni, reading his circular EC monogram beside the clouds; on our scan the small circular mark is the series’ agency roundel with «MILANO» beneath it, and no artist’s monogram resolves. Published without an attribution; no printed date, late-1930s campaign.
About this image. The work is still protected by copyright: under Italian law (L. 633/1941) rights run for 70 years from the death of the author. Since the author has not been identified, that term cannot be considered expired, and the image is treated as fully protected. It is reproduced here for documentation, study and critical purposes only, under Art. 70 of L. 633/1941 and the fair-use provision of 17 U.S.C. §107. The scan was made by the collector from his own copy of the sheet, part of the period material he keeps in a private archive: owning the physical sheet is not the same as holding the rights to the work. The image is not offered for sale, no reproduction rights are granted, and any request concerning the work should be addressed to the rights holders. Cultural Heritage Online publishes this material to document it, with no celebratory intent; see our terms and the DMCA contact published there.
Sources
- Cantieri Riuniti dell’Adriatico — constitution in Trieste on 18 September 1930, ships, engines and aircraft
- Mario Stoppani — First World War ace and record-setting test pilot
- The sheet itself, for the copy and the agency roundel.
