S.V.A. 5 of Serenissima Flight
S.V.A. 10




The name of this plane is strictly joined at the famous raid from Rome, Italy to Tokio, Japan in the spring of 1920 when a famous Italian Aviator reached the Japan after a long flight of 18.000 Kilometres. The first flight of S.V.A. was done on March,19 of 1917 from Grosseto airport ( Tuscany ) with at the commands Mario Stoppani that was an ace of WWI with 76th flight. At the beginning this plane was called S.V. where S means Savoia V. means Verduzio , both, names of the Chief Project Engineers. Later, the plane was called S.V.A., where the last letter take the name of Ansaldo that was the factory where was born the plane. Already during the tests, this plane was manoeuvrerable and the fastest airplane of Aviation Corp of Italy. Again, this plane was more faster that Austro-Hungarian planes. So, looking at these good perfomances, over 1,000 plane were ordered in the first months of 1917. During the WWI, these planes did take the " Ace status " at many Italian pilots. Many raids were done, but two of these yielded big resonance all over the world : the Rome-Tokyo raid and the flight over Wien , Austria The first one,for the standards of that time was considered incredible because at 11 a.m. of February, 14 1920 took off from Centocelle airport ( Rome, Italy ) Arturo Ferrarin with his engine technician Gino Cappannini. Inside this plane without any instrument except for the engine instruments and a compass, the crew had only few sheets of a map. The second plane with crew of Guido Masiero and Roberto Moretto ( engine technician ) had the same equipment. After a flight of 18,000 Kilometres and over thirty steps with 112 hours of flight time these crews reaches the Japan where over 200,000 people was waiting these Italian Heroes. For that time this raid was considered memorable. The second one important raid was done two years before, August 9th 1918 where in the last phase of WWI, eleven S.V.A. took off from San Pelagio Airport ( Padua, Italy ) with target Wien, Austria. Seven planes reached Wien to stay over this city, almost thirty minutes where they took pictures and dropped out leaflets. The psychological effect was terrible on the people. Three months later the WWI ended with the victory of Italy.( 4th November 1918 ) Even these raids helped the plane to be exported in many countries like Argentina, Brasil, France Lettonia, Lithuania, Holland, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain and United States. The Royal Italian Air Force received the last examples of this plane on 1928. The total amount of this plane reached the number of 2,000 examples.





S.V.A. : VARIANTS

S.V. : later named S.V.A. 1 : four examples without windshield.
S.V.A. 2 : early production examples : engine exhaust modified
S.V.A. 2 : used from advanced production : windshield with 5 different transparent panels, minigun installed above the upper wing, exit edge of lower wings modified to have better visibility
S.V.A. 2 : last serial production : synchronized minigun to shot through the propeller on the left side of face.Fairings on the pipe connections of the struts.
S.V.A. 2 : two seater version : one example modified for the flight over Wien,controls in the back seat. Front seat instead of fuel tank of the fuselage. Gravity fuel tank installed in the upper wing.
S.V.A. 3 : developed from S.V.A. 2 to be employed like fighter. Short wing
S.V.A. 4 : reconnaissance version with more surface on fin post to improve the stability
S.V.A. 5 : fighterbomber with curved windshield with two miniguns and bomb rafters
S.V.A. 6 : bomber with tank in the upper wing
S.V.A. 7 : version not builded
S.V.A. 8 : one only version, probably made like experimental prototype
S.V.A. 9 : two seater trainer with controls only in the front cockpit.
S.V.A. 9 : two seater trainer with double controls
S.V.A. 10 : two seater reconnaissance version with main control in the front cockpit; synchronized minigun on the left side of the muzzle and train minigun on the back seat. Cameras, in the first versions installed in the fuselage, under the lower wing, later installed toward the tail.
I S.V.A. : seaplane version of the S.V.A. of the early versions with cilynder floats.
S.V.A. Am : seaplane version made for Italian Royal Navy
A.P. : monoseater version made for mailing services with a strong landing gear,Isotta Fraschini V.6 engine and a lower radiator placed within the landing gears.





TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Ansaldo S.V.A. 5

Primary Function
:
Light Bomber
Contractor
:
Ansaldo (Italy)
Power Plant
:
nr. one Engine SPA6 (220 CV )
Maximum Speed
:
87 mph
(140 Km/h)
Ceiling
:
1,440 feet
(4,800 meters)
Range
:
four hours
Empty Weight
:
5,070 lb
(2,300 kilograms)
Maximum Takeoff Weight
:
8,576 lb
(3,890 kilograms)
Wingspan
:
74,6 ft.
(22,74 metres)
Lenght
:
38 ft
(11,05 metres)
Height
:
12,6 ft
(3,84 metres)
Wing Area
:
1029,4 sq. ft.
(95,64 m2)
Armament
:
nr. 2 Vickers guns





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