The first Gordon England design, the G.E.1, was a two-bay equal-span tractor configuration biplane powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Clerget four-cylinder water-cooled engine, driving the two-bladed propeller via a chain drive giving a 2:1 speed reduction.

Both were entered in the British military aeroplane trials held in August 1912, the first to be flown by Gordon England and the other by Howard Pixton[3][4] but were unsuccessful, completing only the quick-assembly tests.

The Daimler-engined version proved underpowered, and the other aircraft was damaged in an accident early in the competition, which was won by the Cody V biplane .

This had a fuselage faired to a circular cross-section with the crew in two tandem cockpits, with fuel and oil tanks sufficient for three hours flight between them, and was powered by an 80 hp (60 kW) Gnome Lambda single-row rotary engine threequarters enclosed in a circular cowling.

Trials of the aircraft revealed that the wing spars were too flexible, and although an attempt was made to address this problem by adding short kingpost-bracing to the rear spar, by this time the Italian blockade of Turkey made delivery difficult, and no further development was carried out.