Caproni Vizzola Calif

The Caproni Vizzola Calif was a family of Italian sailplanes, the first of which flew in 1969, with production continuing into the 1970s and 1980s. They were of typical sailplane configuration with T-tails and had distinctive wings with centre sections of constant chord and trapezoidal outer panels. The forward fuselage was fibreglass over an alloy frame, while the rear fuselage, wings and tail were metal-covered. The most significant member, and the only one built in quantity, with around 150 by the early 1980s, was the A-21S, a two-seat version with the pilot and passenger side by side. It once held four world records for two-seat sailplanes at the same time, including the women's closed-circuit speed record set by Adele Orsi and Franca Bellengeri in August 1974 and a straight distance of 970.4 kilometres flown by Ingo Renner and Hilmer Geissler in Australia in 1975. A jet-powered version, the A-21SJ, was also built. The A-21S weighed 436 kilograms empty.