SSVV Urendo EC-38/56

Technical Specifications
Name : Urendo EC-38/56
Family : Sport and Trainer Sailplane
Manufacturer : SSVV
Nation : Italy
Production Year : 1956
Dimensions
Length : 6.92 m
Span : 15.00 m
Height : at the cockpit 1.30 m
Wing Area : 13.80 m²
Weights
Empty : 235 kg
Maximum Take-off :  395 kg
Engines
Performances
Maximum Speed : 200 km/h
History

Edgardo Ciani’s Urendo was built by Sezioni Sperimentale di Volo a Vela (SSVV) of Milan, an offshoot of the Aeroclub Volovelistico Milanese. It was intended as a general-purpose (including training), low-cost aircraft, and the necessary simplicity of its construction was apparent in its flat-sided fuselage. It is said that when Ciani saw it in the air for the first time, he exclaimed “Ma l’é propri Urend!” (“By God, it’s really horrible!” in the Milanese dialect) and named it Urendo (horrendous). Nonetheless, it has an efficient laminar flow wing, and, though its thermalling is limited with two aboard by a high wing loading, it flies well cross-country as a single-seater. The flying surfaces of the Urendo are almost entirely wooden, apart from fabric-covered rear control surfaces and fibre-glass aileron nose-caps. Its high set wing, mounted with 3.50° of dihedral, is built around a single spar and plywood-skinned. In plan the wing is straight-edged, with an inner panel of constant chord and 4.50° of forward sweep at quarter chord, and outer, tapered panels with forward sweep of 3°, terminating in small, streamlined bodies known as salmons. The three Urendo variants were distinguished by the details of the ailerons on the outer panels, the airbrakes, also on the outer panels but at their inboard limit, and the presence or absence of centre section flaps.
The Urendo’s fuselage is steel-framed and fabric-covered. Behind the wings it has a kite shaped cross-section, the longer sides reaching down to the keel. The tail surfaces are straight-edged, with a parallel chord tailplane and elevators mounted forward of the fin and on top of the fuselage. The fin and rudder are straight-tapered with a squared-off top, the latter extending down to the keel. Forward, the fuselage section becomes hexagonal and deeper, with the tandem seats under a starboard side hinged, long, flat-sided, flat-topped and multi-part canopy. This hinged part ends at the wing leading edge, but fixed glazing carries the canopy back further, where it merges into the dorsal fuselage. The Urendo lands on a fixed, semi-recessed monowheel, fitted with a brake and placed towards the rear of a substantial, rubber-mounted curved main skid. There is a small tail skid.
The Urendo flew for the first time on 22 June 1956.
Unexpectedly, a Urendo flown solo won the Italian National Gliding Championships in 1959, achieving the longest-distance cross-country flight there of 297 km (185 mi). It returned good performances in several other national competitions.
The exhibited aircraft is a Urendo B Construction Number 06, equipped with flaps, found out in a farmhouse near Somma Lombardo in the spring 2001, abandoned since many years, but still in fair conditions. Reconditioned by Vincenzo Pedrielli and a group of passionate friends, it retourned to the air in 2006 piloted by Lino del Pio, who already flew it in ‘60s.

kids & family
Simulator area
Pic-Nic Area

Subscribe to the Newsletter

  • Subscribe to our Newsletter