R.A.F. S.E.5 & S.E.5a

A Brief Account

The S.E.5 of the Shuttleworth Collection ©

Together with the Sopwith camel the S.E.5 and S.E. 5a share the honour of being the best British fighter planes of the WWI. They were tough, fast and manoeverable and proved superior to the German aircraft of their time, including the Albatros DIII amd D V, the Pfalz DIII and the Fokker Dr I.

Aces like Mannock, Bishop and McCudden had the majority of their victories in the S.E.5a.

The aircrafty was designed specifically for the 150hp Hispano-Suiza engine by H.P. Folland, J. Kenworthy and Major F.W. Goodden. The prototype first flew in November 1916. A second plane was sent to France in December 1916 for operational tests once the prototype's test flights had been completed. The aircraft proved to be very fast having a top speed of nearly 213 kph (133 mph) at 3048m (10,000 ft).

There were two fixed machine guns. The Vickers was synchronised and the Lewis was installed on the upper wing to fire over the propeller disk. The S.E.5 was tested against the Nieuport 17 and Spad S.VII. It proved to be generally superior but slightly less manoeverable than the Nieuport 17. Production was delayed by the accident to Frank Goodden, who was flying the plane at Farnborough on 28th January 1917, when the wings collapsed. Gooden was killed in the resultant crash. the enquiry discovered a structural weakness, the connections between the spars and struts were strenghtened on the production models.

Only 58 S.E.5's were built and were in combat for only three months. The S.E.5a was built around the new 200 hp Hispano-Suiza engine. The aircraft reached front line units in June 1917. Aairframe production outstripped engine supply and other engines were tried out. These included the Wolsley Viper, which was installed in most of the new planes.

The S.E.5a was an outstanding fighter. About 2700 were in service with the Royal Air Force at the end of the war.

A total of 5205 were built and saw service in 24 British, 1 Australian and 2 American Squadrons.

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