Fighter, reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, single-engine, biplane, single-seat with mixed construction.

It was an unequal-span biplane, with W struts and a wooden stressed-skin truss fuselage with plywood covering.

Approximately 1,700 units were built.

The main users were the 86th and 87th squadrons (distinguished by the Lion of Saint Mark insignia and known as “La Serenissima”).

The most famous action was the flight to Vienna on 9 August by 10 single-seater SVA aircraft plus D'Annunzio's two-seater: almost seven hours and 1,000 km of flight, four-fifths of which were over enemy territory.
Two aeroplanes were forced to return, one landed due to a breakdown and the others dropped leaflets and photographed the enemy capital.
At the armistice, the SVA.4 and SVA.5 equipped the reconnaissance and bombing squadrons.

Today, three single-seater aircraft survive (two SVA.5s, one at the Caproni Museum in Trento and the other at the MUSAM in Vigna di Valle, and one, of curious appearance, in Peru).