Two were built for the United States Army Air Service in 1922, but after competing in the 1922 Pulitzer Trophy Race the type was abandoned.

Amongst the companies who received orders was Thomas-Morse Aircraft of Ithaca, New York, whose chief designer, B Douglas Thomas, designed a single-seat, single-engined parasol wing monoplane, the Thomas Morse TM-22, with two being ordered by the Army as the Thomas-Morse R-5.

It was powered by a single 600 hp (447 kW) Packard 1A-2025 V12 engine with its radiator and oil tank in a tubular container beneath the fuselage.

[1] The aircraft suffered cooling problems and had poor handling, while struggling to reach the speed of 190 mph expected by the Air Service.

[1][4] Despite these problems, the two R-5s, flown by Captain Frank O'Driscoll Hunter and Lieutenant Clayton L. Bissell were amongst the starters for the Pulitzer Race on 14 October.