Role Executive transport
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Piaggio Aero
First flight 23 September 1986
Introduction 30 September 1990
Status In production
Primary users Italian Air Force
Italian Army
Italian Navy
Avantair
Produced 1986–present
Number built 246 (Dec 2020)
A 1980s wave of new-generation planes, developed to appeal to Fortune 500 clients, included Piaggio's Avanti and Beech Aircraft Corp.'s very similar Starship. Engineering studies for the airplane that would eventually be named Avanti began in 1979 and designs were tested in wind tunnels in Italy and the United States in 1980 and 1981, conducted by Professor Jan Roskam from the University of Kansas (using Wichita State University's wind tunnel and Boeing's transonic wind tunnel in Seattle) along with Professor Gerald Gregorek at Ohio State University (using OSU's 2D pressure wind tunnel).
The Avanti's counter-rotating turboprop engines are placed on a mid-set, high-aspect-ratio wing located just behind the cabin. The three-surface design incorporates both a T-tail and a pair of small, fixed forewings having slight anhedral and landing flaps. On the Avanti II these flaps automatically deploy in concert with the main wing flaps. This reduces the load on the tailplane, even when the flaps are deployed, by reducing the pitch-down moment created by the deployment of the main wing flaps. This in turn allows the size of both the tailplane and the main wing to be reduced This particular three-lifting-surface configuration was patented in 1982.
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The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a replacement for the service's existing fleet of Aermacchi MB-326s.
An Aermacchi MB-339 jet had just taken off in formation to head to Vercelli, where it should have perform an aerial exhibition.
Learn all about the Aermacchi MB-339 with Curator of Aviation Eric Boehm.