It was flown by a number of famous aces, such as France's Georges Guynemer, Italy's Francesco Baracca and Australia's Alexander Pentland.

Louis Béchereau, chief designer of the SPAD company, quickly produced a prototype fighter with the new engine.

One of many many common design features between the new SPAD V and the S.A.2 was the use of a single-bay biplane wing with additional struts mounted mid-bay at the point of junction of the flying and landing wires.

[2] Flight testing revealed excellent maximum speed (192 km/h (119 mph) and climb rate of 4.5 min to 2,000 m (6,560 ft)).

The high diving speed promised to give lower-skilled Allied pilots the initiative to engage or leave combat against heavier German fighters.

While a few SPADs arrived at frontline units as early as August 1916, large numbers only began to appear in the first months of 1917.

Field modifications attempted to counter the problem, including cutting extra holes in the metal sheeting to provide more air over the engine.

However, dealing with the fabric belt as it came out of the gun was a significant problem, and was prone to jamming, which was only solved when Prideaux disintegrating ammo links were introduced.

The subcontractors included the firms Grémont, Janoir, Kellner et Fils, de Marçay, Société d'Etudes Aéronautiques, Régy and Sommer.

The new engine gradually became the standard powerplant for the SPAD VII and by April 1917, all newly produced aircraft were equipped with it.

It was soon apparent that British production lines had lower quality standards than their French counterparts, degrading performance and handling.

Photographic evidence shows that some had the cylinder bank fairings, or even the entire upper engine cowling, cut out to compensate for the malfunctioning radiators.

In a similar fashion, the Dux factory in Moscow produced approximately 100 S.VIIs under licence in 1917, with engines supplied by France.

The total number of aircraft produced is uncertain, with sources varying from 3,825 to some 5,600 SPAD S.VIIs built in France, 220 in the United Kingdom and approximately 100 in Russia.

The French Aviation Militaire had been sufficiently impressed by the performance of the SPAD V prototype to order a batch of 268 aircraft on 10 May 1916.

However, teething problems soon appeared and it would be several months before the SPAD VII would serve in significant numbers on the front, the last aircraft of the initial batch only being delivered in February 1917.

In spite of these delays, some aircraft were delivered to frontline units as early as August 1916, complementing the Nieuport fighters.

The introduction of the SPAD VII was not enough to change the balance of the air war, but it allowed both pilots and mechanics to familiarise themselves with the new fighter.

The aircraft's capacity to dive safely up to 400 km/h (250 mph) permitted the pilot to disengage from combat when the situation demanded it.

Russia received a batch of 43 in spring 1917 which were supplemented by approximately 100 SPAD VII manufactured by the Dux factory under licence.

Rudolf Windisch of Jasta 66 flew a SPAD VII with German markings in combat, although it is not known if any aerial victories were achieved.

After the war, surplus SPAD VIIs were used into the late 1920s by numerous countries, including Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Siam, the United States and Yugoslavia.