Fact Files

Royal Aircraft Factory SE 5a.  The first aircraft reached the Western Front before the Sopwith Camel and it had a much better overall performance, problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918 and fewer squadrons were equipped with the type than with the Sopwith fighter.


Together with the Camel, the S.E.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining this for the rest of the war, ensuring there was no repetition of "Bloody April" 1917 when losses in the Royal Flying Corps were much heavier than in the Luftstreitkräfte.

Designed by Henry P. Folland, J. Kenworthy and Major Frank W. Goodden of the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough. It was built around the new 150 hp (112 kW) Hispano-Suiza 8a V8 engine which while it provided excellent performance, was initially under-developed and unreliable. The first of three prototypes flew on 22 November 1916. The first two prototypes were lost in crashes, the first killing one of its designers, Major F. W. Goodden on 28 January 1917, due to a weakness in their wing design. The third version underwent modification before main production started. 

S.E.5 was inherently stable, making it an excellent gun platform but it was also quite manoeverable. It was one of the fastest aircraft of the war at 138 mph (222 km/h), and faster than any standard German type of the period. The S.E.5 was not as effective in a dog fight as the Sopwith Camel as it was less agile but it was easier and safer to fly, particularly for inexperienced pilots.

The SE5 was armed with one synchronised 0.303-in Vickers machine gun, whereas the Camel had two. It also had a wing-mounted Lewis gun on a Foster mounting, which enabled the pilot to fire at an enemy aircraft from below as well as forward. This was much appreciated by the pilots of the first S.E.5 squadrons as the new "C.C." synchronising gear for the Vickers was unreliable at first. The Vickers gun was mounted on the left side of the fuselage with the breech inside the cockpit. The cockpit was set amidships, making it difficult to see over the long front fuselage, but otherwise visibility was good. Perhaps its greatest advantage over the Camel was its superior performance at altitude. Unlike most previous Allied fighters it was not outclassed by the new Fokker D.VII

 SE5 - S.E.5a

Only 77 original S.E.5 aircraft were built before production settled on the improved S.E.5a. The S.E.5a differed from late production examples of the S.E.5 only in the type of engine installed - a geared 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8b, often turning a large clockwise-rotation four bladed propeller replacing the 150 hp model. In total 5,265 S.E.5s were built by six manufacturers: Austin Motors (1,650), Air Navigation and Engineering Company (560), Curtiss (1), Martinsyde (258), the Royal Aircraft Factory (200), Vickers (2,164) and Wolseley Motor Company (431).

The introduction of the 200 hp (149 kW) Wolseley Viper, a high-compression version of the Hispano-Suiza made under licence by the Wolseley Motor Company, solved the S.E.5a's engine problems and was adopted as the standard powerplant.

About 38 of the Austin-built S.E.5as were assigned to the American Expeditionary Force with the 25th Aero Squadron getting its aircraft (mostly armed only with the fuselage-mounted Vickers gun) at the very end of the war.

Specifications:

• Crew: One
• Length: 20 ft 11 in (6.38 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 7 in (8.11 m)
• Height: 9 ft 6 in (2.89 m)
• Wing area: 244 ft² (22.67 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,410 lb (639 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1,935 lb (880 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 1,988 lb (902 kg)
• Maximum speed: 138 mph (222 km/h)
• Range: 300 miles (483 km)
• Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,185 m)
• Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)

Armament

• 1x 0.303 in (7.7 mm) forward-firing Vickers machine gun with Constantinesco interrupter gear
• 1x .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun on Foster mounting on upper wing
• 4x 18kg Cooper bombs, two under each lower wing, to be dropped in 2, 3, 4, 1 order.

Photo Gallery

• Click to open image! Click to open image!
• Click to open image! Click to open image!
• Click to open image! Click to open image!
• Click to open image! Click to open image!
• Click to open image! Click to open image!
•