Ansaldo SVA

The Ansaldo SVA (named for Savoia-Verduzio-Ansaldo) was a family of Italian reconnaissance biplane aircraft of World War I and the decade after. Originally conceived as a fighter, the SVA was found inadequate for that role. Nevertheless, its impressive speed, range and operational ceiling, with its top speed making it one of the fastest (if not the fastest) of all Allied combat aircraft in World War I, gave it the right properties to be an excellent reconnaissance aircraft and even light bomber. Production of the aircraft continued well after the war, with the final examples delivered in 1918. Two minor variants were produced, one with reconnaissance cameras, the other without cameras but extra fuel tanks.

The SVA was a conventionally laid-out unequal-span biplane, featuring Warren Truss-style struts, and therefore having no transverse (spanwise) bracing wires. The plywood-skinned fuselage had the typical Ansaldo triangular rear cross-section behind the cockpit, transitioning to a rectangular cross section going forwards through the rear cockpit area, with a full rectangular cross section forward of the cockpit.

The famous Flight over Vienna propaganda flight, inspired by Gabriele d'Annunzio, was carried out on August 9, 1918, by the 87th Squadriglia La Serenissima from San Pelagio, consisting of an eleven plane flight of various models of Ansaldo SVA-series biplanes. At least two of the aircraft were two seater SVA 9 or 10s to accommodate d'Annunzio himself for the flight he inspired, with the remainder being SVA 5 single-seaters.