It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden.

Together with the Camel, the S.E.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining it for some time, ensuring there was no repetition of "Bloody April" 1917 when losses in the Royal Flying Corps were much heavier than in the Luftstreitkräfte.

The S.E.5 (Scout Experimental 5) was designed by Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden of the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough.

The first two prototypes were lost in crashes (the first killing the chief test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Major Frank Goodden, on 28 January 1917) due to a weakness in their wing design.

The third prototype underwent modification before production commenced; the S.E.5 was known in service as an exceptionally strong aircraft which could be dived at very high speed – the squarer wings also gave much improved lateral control at low airspeeds.

[4] According to "Dodge" Bailey, the former Chief Test Pilot of the Shuttleworth Collection, it had "somewhat similar handling characteristics to a de Havilland Tiger Moth, but with better excess power".

[7] At first, airframe construction outstripped the very limited supply of French-built Hispano-Suiza engines and squadrons earmarked to receive the new fighter had to soldier on with Airco DH 5s and Nieuport 24s until early 1918.

[12][8] Unlike many of its peers, which were highly agile but unforgiving, the S.E.5 was comparatively stable and easy to fly; its stability enabling pilots to more readily fire upon enemies from further away with a greater degree of accuracy.

The yaw could be compensated for by balanced application of the aileron and rudder, whilst adjustment of the elevator trim made it possible to fly in a 'hands off' manner.

[13] One of its greatest advantages over the Sopwith Camel was its superior performance at altitude, making it a much better match for the Fokker D.VII when that fighter arrived at the front.

The Vickers gun was mounted on the forward left dorsal surface of the fuselage with the breech inside the cockpit, at a slight upwards angle.

Typically, spare magazines for the Lewis gun would have been placed within most of the free space in the cockpit including the forward areas, such as the instrumentation panel.

James McCudden, an ace pilot and former RFC mechanic, was famous for his prolific fine-tuning of his aircraft in order to produce improved performance from it; McCudden was able to increase the top speed by 9 mph and to raise the service ceiling from the standard 17,000 ft to 20,000 ft. His adaptions included replacing the standard pistons with high compression versions, shortening the exhaust (saving weight and improving exhaust scavenging), and changes to mixture, ignition and other engine settings as well as fitting a salvaged German propeller spinner (which he himself credited as gaining 3 mph alone).

These were designed to protect the pilot in his unusually high seating position, which was in turn intended to improve vision over the upper wing.

While pilots, some of whom were initially disappointed with the S.E.5, quickly came to appreciate its strength and fine flying qualities, it was popularly judged to have been underpowered; this failing was addressed by the introduction of the more powerful S.E.5a.

Many of the top Allied aces of the Great War flew this fighter, including Billy Bishop, Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor, Edward Mannock and James McCudden.

84 Squadron RFC which was initially equipped with the S.E.5a, listed the type's qualities as being: "Comfortable, with a good all-round view, retaining its performance and manoeuvrability at high level, steady and quick to gather speed in the dive, capable of a very fine zoom, useful in both offence and defence, strong in design and construction, [and] possessing a reliable engine".

On 30 May 1922, the first use of skywriting for advertising occurred when Cyril Turner, a former RAF officer, spelt out "London Daily Mail" in black smoke from an S.E.5a at The Derby.

According to the group, the reproduction aircraft, which was the company's first project, combined some authentic components, such as the Hispano engines used, with newly-fabricated parts based on original archived drawings.

[26] The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, US displays the reproduction SE.5a that Bobby Strahlman and his partners completed for collector Doug Champlin in 1989.

This reproduction features one .303 Vickers and one .303-calibre Lewis machine gun, and carries the paint scheme of American ace George Vaughn who served with the Royal Flying Corps.

[28] Data from South African National Museum of Military History[29] The Vintage Aviator[12]General characteristics Performance Armament