The first resulting aircraft was the "Destroyer" (later designated Vickers E.F.B.1) which was shown at the Olympia Aero Show in February 1913, but crashed on its maiden flight.

[1] This aircraft was of the "Farman" pusher layout, to avoid the problem of firing through a tractor propeller, and was armed with a single belt-fed Vickers gun.

This was a two-bay biplane powered by a single 80 hp (60 kW) Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine; the aircraft had a steel tube structure, with fabric-covered wings and tail, and a duralumin-covered nacelle with large celluloid windows in the sides.

Armament remained a single Vickers gun mounted in the nose of the nacelle, with limited movement possible, and a very poor view for the gunner.

It was powered by a single 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine driving a two-bladed propeller, and was of simple, clean, and conventional design compared with its predecessors.

Insall of 11 Squadron won the Victoria Cross for an action on 7 November 1915 in which he destroyed a German aircraft while flying a Gunbus.

Early aircraft were fitted with British-built Monosoupapes, which initially proved less reliable than French-built engines, while much work was done before a useful gun mounting became available.

It was quite happy bumbling along above the German Army, booming it its sonorous defiance for all to hear and never evading a trial of strength.By the end of 1915, the aircraft was outclassed by the Fokker Eindecker.

Examples of the improved Vickers F.B.9 were sent to France, pending sufficient supplies of the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b however both the F.B.5 and F.B.9 were fully withdrawn from frontline service by July 1916.

Vickers F.B.5 had a lasting legacy as German pilots continued to refer to British pusher aircraft as "Vickers-types".