The CVV 8 Bonaventura ( en, Good Adventure) was a two-seat competition

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

designed and built in Italy during the 1950s. Fifteen were produced.

Design and development

The Bonaventura was designed at the Centro Volo a Vela (CVV), or Experimental Soaring Centre, of the Royal Polytechnic of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

by Gildo Preti; though construction was started in 1952, the prototype was not completed until 1957. The first flight took place on 14 December that year. It was named after the fortunate eponymous protagonist of an Italian children's comic strip,

Signor Bonaventura ''Signor Bonaventura'' is an Italian comic strip created in 1917 by actor and playwright Sergio Tofano. It is considered among the most famous and successful comic strips ever created in Italy. The character made his first appearance on October 2 ...

. The Bonaventura is an all wood aircraft with a 19 m (62 ft 4 in) span, shoulder mounted wing, built around a single spar. Its airfoil section is from the NACA laminar flow 6-series. Ahead of the spar, the wing is skinned with

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

laid with its grain at 45° to the centre line for strength; this goes around the nose of the wing, forming a torsion resisting D-box. Behind the spar the wing is fabric covered. The plan is essentially double straight tapered, though a short centre section has a

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

normal to the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

centre line, and a trailing edge slightly more forward sweep than outboard. Long, narrow

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s occupy about half the span; airbrakes are placed immediately inboard of the ailerons at mid-chord. These consist of seven rotating blades on each side which project both above and below the wing when deployed, counter-rotating away on chord-wise axes. The fuselage is a ply shell,

ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

in cross section and built around a series of frames and stringers. The tandem seats are enclosed ahead of the wing leading edge under a

starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...

hinged, continuous canopy. The Bonaventura has no wheeled undercarriage, but took off from a wheeled, drop-off dolly and landed on a simple, rubber sprung skid extending from nose to mid chord, aided by a sprung tail skid. The fuselage becomes slim towards the tail, where the double straight tapered horizontal tail is mounted on top of it, far enough forward that its trailing edge is at the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

hinge. The elevators are fabric covered and the starboard one carries a trim tab.

Fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

and rudder are also straight tapered and the tall, fabric covered, unbalanced rudder reaches down to the keel.

Operational history

Two Bonaventura prototypes were built by CVV, followed by a short production run of thirteen from Avionautica Rio. These went to Italian gliding clubs. Three Bonaventuras survive in museum collections, though none were on public display in 2010.

Specifications

References

External links

NACA 65₃618 airfoil
{{CVV aircraft 1950s Italian sailplanes Aircraft first flown in 1957