Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a: The Spitfire of World War One

joshje100 · January 18, 2025, 6:46pm

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a single-seat fighter built in 1916 and flew during the war from 1917 by the British Royal Flying Corps.

History

The S.E.5 was designed by Henry Folland, Major Frank Goodden, and John Kenworth of the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough. 3 prototypes were built, the first took it’s first flight on the 22nd of November 1916 with the second and third soon to follow however the first 2 prototypes were lost in crashes with the third aircraft surviving and undergoing several modifications to become the first production model.

The S.E.5 entered service in March 1917 with No.56 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps however did not see deployment to the Western Front until a month later in April with it’s first patrol taking place on the 22nd of April. During it’s deployment pilots often noted that the S.E.5, although praised for it’s strength and flight performance, was underpowered which hindered performance to an extent, thus the S.E.5a was introduced with a more powerful 200hp engine.

Once the S.E.5a started seeing mass deployment pilots found great success with the aircraft and combined with the use of the Sopwith Camel the RFC once more took back air supremacy by mid 1917 which is said to have ensured no repetition of “Bloody April” as it ended the dominance of the German Albatros fighters which had terrorised the allied fighter pilots since mid 1916.

The S.E.5a was withdrawn from British service soon after the Armistice of 1918 however it continued to see service with Canada and Australia.

An original S.E.5a can be seen at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden which has been restored to full flightworthy condition by the staff at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Another 4 original airframes can be found at the Science Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum in London, the South African National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg, and at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

According to Robert Jackson, a aviation military aviation expert and author, the S.E.5 was “the nimble fighter that has since been described as the ‘Spitfire of World War One’”. On a personal note I find this quite fitting for this aircraft given it’s exceptional performance and importance to British aviation history, also that’s just a cool nickname for any aircraft.

Performance

Maximum speed: 138 mph (222 kph)
Range: 300 mi (480 km)
Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,200 m)
Wing loading: 7.93 lb/sq ft (38.7 kg/m2)

Specifications

Engine
1 x Wolseley Viper water cooled V8 engine - 150hp (110kW)
Size
Length: 20 ft 11 in (6.38 m)
Upper wingspan: 26 ft 7 in (8.10 m)
Lower wingspan: 26 ft 7 in (8.10 m)
Lower chord: 60 in (1.52 m)
Height: 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Wing area: 244 sq ft (22.7 m2)
Weight
Empty: 1,410lb (640kg)
Max: 1,935lb (878kg)
Armament
Guns:
1 x .303 Vickers Machine Gun
1 x .303 Lewis Gun attached via Foster Mounting on the upper wing
Bombs:
4 x 25lb (11kg) Cooper bombs