The History of the Gliding Centre: How Aeronautics Conquered the Politecnico di Milano

A handful of fervent admirers of aeroplanes and modelling, the threat of a looming war, and a space heritage. The history of the Gliding Centre at the Politecnico di Milano (the Centro di Volo a Vela) has an almost epic flavour: a combination of ingenuity and design challenge that was far ahead of its time, but the main ingredient is passion. Uncontainable passion for flying, one of humanity’s great dreams, brought together a heterogeneous group of people of different ages and social backgrounds, who had been able to achieve something unique, never seen in Milan before. This milestone left an indelible mark on our university and the Italian aeronautical industry. And that’s only the beginning. The Centre was an authentic powerhouse of talent where many illustrious professionals got their start in the sector, such as Gildo Preti, Stelio Frati, Maurizio Garbell, and Emanuele Bazzocchi.
So, first of all, what is “gliding”? Gliding is the flying style of small ultra-light aircrafts without engines, called gliders. The pilot’s skill combined with an efficient technical study of the aircraft, and of the environmental conditions, are fundamental for ensuring that the plane stays in the air for as long as possible – a goal at the base of the team that brought this specialty into the Politecnico di Milano just before World War II. This experience led to the creation of the university’s first Wind Tunnel, and laid the groundwork for the Institute of Aeronautics in Via Golgi, which opened in the early 1950s. That was at the core of the current Department of Aerospace Science and Technology-DAER at the Bovisa Campus, which is keeping its legacy alive.

This incredible parable was told to us by Cesare Cardani, keeper of the historical memory of the DAER and former professor of Aerospace Systems and Installations, Aerospace Instrumentation and many other courses at the same Department.

The Centro di Volo a Vela (CVV), short for the Centro Studi Esperienze del Volo a Vela at Politecnico di Milano, was founded in 1934. During the first two years, preparatory activities took place. Then, in 1936, the actual activity of designing and building gliders began: between 1936 and 1942, new machines were developed almost annually, resulting in a total of eight models. The period after 1943, in the middle of World War II, was obviously very difficult to manage. After the war, activities continued, and some projects that were developed before were completed. The centre gradually faded away until the mid-1950s. The last attempts to relaunch it date back to the early 1960s. The overall timeframe was about fifteen years, although the truly fundamental years were those before the war.

Certainly. At the time, aeronautics was considered a post-graduate specialization, and two schools had been created to convey this degree, one in Turin and the other in Rome: in Turin, due to the obvious presence of Fiat, and in Rome, because it was the headquarters of the Ministry of Aeronautics, which controlled all activities related to it. Milan repeatedly tried to have the same opportunity for this post-graduate specialization, because, at that time, the most important aeronautical industries were located north of the city and in the city itself, but the Politecnico di Milano clashed with the insuperable positions of the Ministry, which claimed to have a certain monopoly on teaching and management. Thus, it remained within the university only as a supplementary optional course throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Lectures were given by Professor Silvio Bassi, who taught the subject from 1918 to 1950, and the course was inextricably linked to him for a long time. Bassi realized this, and tried in every way to make the course more concrete so that it could survive even without him. He pushed for the construction of an aerodynamic experimentation tunnel, thus the university’s first Wind Tunnel. In the mid-1930s, during the time when the CVV opened, he managed to have its construction financed by engineer Gianni Caproni (of the company with the same name) and also by other companies in the area. Gliders were built in the Leonardo campus, near the carpentry workshop (in the basement of the north classrooms), under the student hall and the classroom area where the current bar of the Politecnico is located. This small tunnel still exists, though dismantled. It was used until almost the 2000s and then replaced in its functions by the one inside our department, and by the largest Wind Tunnel in Europe in Bovisa Campus. It was a rectangular, closed circuit tunnel. Its impeller, the propeller that makes the air move, is still on display at the entrance to the library on the Bovisa Campus.

In the mid-1930s, Italy was under the fascist regime, and as we were saying, aeronautical activity was under the control of the party. The proponent of this activity was Liberato De Amici, a student at the Politecnico and an important exponent of the GUF-Fascist University Group. But unlike other similar associations that aimed to help students learn to fly, with one of their aims being to recruit personnel for the Air Force, the CVV distinguished itself as a centre for study and experimentation, a one-of-a-kind. The flight and testing of one’s own aircraft was an accessory activity. The brilliant idea was also to organise it into sections: the studies section, the construction section, the meteorological section – very important for gliding – and even a press office, which was really unusual. The existence of this office probably explains why there is so much documentation relating to the CVV and the publication of some small books. A group of passionate students formed around Liberato De Amici: students of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, but also people not from the Politecnico. The Centre was an association in its own right, despite being based at the university and supported by the academic authorities, first and foremost by Professor Bassi. Ermenegildo “Gildo” Preti became a member when he was still a high school student. Many continued to collaborate even after they graduated, and Emanuele Bazzocchi did his first design work here. Many young people who were passionate about aeromodelling became involved: in Milan, there was a school at the Public Gardens financed by a well-known model manufacturer, Movo, whose shop was still open until a few years ago, and on Sunday mornings they would meet there. Several future students and professors emerged from that group: first Bazzocchi, then Preti, then Stelio Frati, a prolific designer, Maurizio Garbell, and Leonardo and Pietro Venturini. The transition to larger aircrafts was natural when they became university students.

It was certainly a team effort, but by their own admission, all the others – whom I had the opportunity to get to know over the years – recognised Preti not only as having technical skill, but also as the driving force pulling the group forward. His signature is on all eight projects, and he had an atypical career. The others mentioned went on to become professionals in the aviation sector or in large companies. However, Preti, who also started out as a designer, was later persuaded by Bruno Finzi, rector of the Politecnico from 1967 to 1969 (and director of the newly founded Institute of Aeronautics from 1950 to around 1969, author’s note), to give up his professional career for an academic career. He was in his forties. Preti became Full Professor of Aeronautical Construction. He was the person who pushed for the new building that housed the Institute of Aeronautics, located in Via Golgi.
He was an extraordinary designer: we remember him for gliders, but he also designed engines for motor gliders and P 19 motor aircraft. When his wife decided to drive, he designed a special car for her, the Pilly, a unique work of art. An innovative car copied by the city cars or microcars that can be seen all over Milan nowadays. Passionate about boating, he also designed his own boat. This is why students admired him. He was absolutely unique, precisely for being a professor who developed concrete things, unlike his academic colleagues who were mostly researchers. In a way, he was an heir to the design tradition of Enrico Forlanini, our forefather in the field of aeronautics at the Politecnico di Milano, and an extraordinary creator of all sorts of machines.

They were basically made of wood and canvas: canvas for the plating and wood for the supporting structures, as well as some metal elements, such as some steel uprights or part of the light aluminium alloy plating. As I was saying, there was this large carpentry workshop whose technician, Angelo Cabrilla – who later became custodian of the Institute of Aeronautics – the designers completely relied on for practical implementation. So, not only to physically make some pieces, but also to perfect some design details that were only sketched. According to Liberato De Amici, the initial aim was to provide student pilots with competitive glider planes: back then, they flew very simple, basic machines, which were inspired by a German aircraft, the “Zoegling”, which means “student”. They could simply glide down a hill and become familiar with flight controls. The idea was to provide more advanced machines that performed better: the first model, the CVV1 (1937) was called the Pinguino, precisely because novice pilots are called penguins. It had interesting features, with a wingspan of 15 meters and an empty weight of about 120 kilos. Based on existing foreign models, original features were developed: elements such as spoilers, aerodynamic surfaces that allow the glider to change the profile of the descent because otherwise it can no longer touch the ground, and other components were also patented. As mentioned, there were eight models built and some were very successful: the two-seater CVV6 Canguro (1940), was adopted by the Air Force as a training glider, and 20 units were industrially produced by the Aeronautica Lombarda (a factory which now no longer exists). This is certainly the most significant model: the only two-seater, therefore the most suitable for training. The last one, the CVV8 Bonaventura, which was worked on until the late 1950s and early 1960s, was also very important. It was more advanced than the others, but it was not mass-produced like the Canguro.

Yes, they were, and in many cases, they outshined them. During an expedition in 1939 to the World University Games, the Politecnico di Milano team excelled and the machine was highly appreciated, particularly by German pilots who had a strong tradition that developed after WWI: under the peace treaty agreements, Germany could not undertake aeronautical activities. The only thing they could do was gliding, which was also developed in universities through the Akaflieg (short for Akademische Fliegergruppe, author’s note), student associations which inspired the CVV. We shouldn’t forget to mention the adventure of the Olympic glider! In 1940, the Olympics were to be held in Tokyo, but due to the conflicts with China, they were moved to Helsinki. However, in the end, they were cancelled because war broke out. Gliding demonstrations were planned, but only with one type of glider, and the CVV4 Pellicano also participated in the Italian selection in 1939. The tests were held at Sezze, an airport near the Pontine plain south of Rome, in Ciociaria, discovered practically by the meteorological section of the CVV, which had found the area suitable for gliding. In the end, there were two contenders, the German glider and Italian CVV glider, but the German craft won, although some doubts remain. After that, they participated in many events in Italy, in particular in Asiago, which is still an important centre for the discipline up to now, and then again in Sezze.

One of the biggest problems with transport is that you have to disassemble the wings from the fuselage, and the actual transport was normally done with trailers. At Sezze, many times the CVV gliders arrived like this, with a black Balilla that was supplied by the centre and which travelled up to 700 km on the roads of the time – obviously, I can think the few other drivers on the road and passers-by were quite surprised to see this strange object being towed. And when they finished their run in the meadows, the gliders were put on wagons wherever they landed and pulled by makeshift vehicles with a queue of people following. In Asiago, even recently, glider planes have been taken into flight by towing with a steel cable hooked to a motorized craft: this is a manoeuvre normally used to help the glider take off and reach altitude, and in these cases, it was also used for transport. Commander Adriano Mantelli was a great military pilot who was passionate about gliding and a close friend of Preti’s. He remembered being towed clear to Spain from an Italian airport for races in which he participated with the CVV6 Canguro. Some of these gliders flew until the 1980s in international sporting competitions.

Glider construction was abandoned for decades, but about fifteen years ago, activities resumed not only for aeronautics students, but also for students of other specializations within the Politecnico, in particular mechanics. Among others, the Skyward association was created on the students’ own initiative, with students from various departments developing rockets. Others associations have been created along the same lines, for example one for drones, here inside DAER, and one for microsatellites in the aerospace community.

The CVV archive will soon be transferred to the Historical Archives of the Politecnico: thousands of documents and several hundred drawings will then be available to everyone. Even now, many modelling enthusiasts come to us to ask for drawings, to reproduce the aircraft designed. Soon after that, we will also transfer Professor Preti’s personal archives, and I’m trying to recover many other things that people have brought us through the years – we also have cups, plaques, and medals won by the CVV, but much more material has unfortunately been lost. Now, the time has come to organize everything organically.