When the War Office held a competition to find a military aeroplane for the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, the directors of the Coventry Ordnance Works decided to enter two aircraft.

Both were unequal-span tractor biplanes; the first had the two crew members seated side-by-side, and was powered by a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome rotary engine, the other had the two crew in tandem and was powered by a 110 hp (82 kW) Chenu inline engine.

[1] The second aircraft differed in engine, seating arrangement, smaller wingspan, and shorter fuselage.

11 was not disqualified it failed to compete due to engine problems, suffering repeated failures of the magneto drive followed by failure of the reduction gear housing (similar problems with a Chenu engine also grounded the Martin and Handasyde entry to the competition).

10 using the original fuselage and tail and retaining the engine, but it was fitted with new wings and landing gear.

[1] Data from English Electric Aircraft and their predecessors,[1] Flight [3]General characteristics Performance