The long-established woodworking company, Frederick Sage & Co, which specialised in shopfitting, set up an aircraft department in early 1915,[1] hiring the well known test pilot and designer, Eric Gordon England, to lead the department, and recruiting Clifford Tinson, formerly deputy to Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company early in 1916.

It was a small wood-and-fabric tractor biplane (in fact the two-seat Sage was smaller than many single-seaters of the time), with single-bay wings.

[3] The pilot and gunner sat in an enclosed, glazed cabin that filled the gap between the fuselage and upper wing.

[6] It was wrecked in a crash landing during a test flight at Cranwell on 20 September 1916 after the rudder post failed.

[4][7] No further development was carried out, as by this time, effective synchronising gear was available to the British, and the Sopwith 1½ Strutter was already in service.