Its place in aviation history is mainly that it was the first in the series of Royal Aircraft Factory designs - several of which played an important role in World War I.

When the remains of a crashed Blériot XII monoplane (nicknamed "The Man-Killer" owing to its poor handling) belonging to the army were sent from Larkhill to Farnborough for repair, authorisation for a complete reconstruction was sought, and granted.

A tractor monoplane became a pusher biplane with large balanced fore-elevators, similar in basic layout to the Wright Flyer, but with a fully covered fuselage.

[3] Further flight testing revealed control problems and the area of the front wing/elevator was adjusted to try to bring together the centre of pressure and the hinge line and make the S.E.1 stable in pitch.

The combination of the inexperienced pilot and the marginally controllable aircraft proved fatal – while landing, with the engine off, he made a sharp turn; the S.E.1 stalled and spun in, killing Ridge.