Artifact Friday: S.E.5

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Suspended in the corner of the White Hangar is one of the earliest fighter aircraft developed. With the onset of the Great War, militaries around the world began the process of weaponizing flight. Earlier designs of military aircraft were often crude at best.

The 1909 Wright Military Flyer was little more than a canvas cover over a shabby wooden frame used by the U.S. Signal Corps. Less than ten years later, in 1917, the Scout Experimental 5 was introduced into the British military.

The designers of the S.E.5, Henry Folland and John Kenworthy, were tasked by Major Frank Goodden to create a new aircraft with the Hispano-Suiza 8 Engine. This particular engine was a V8 capable of 150 horsepower and gave the S.E.5 a top speed of 138 mph, the fastest of any aircraft at the time and rivaled only by the French S.XIII. Even with its blistering speed, the true strength of the S.E.5 was its stability. It was designed to be new pilot-friendly.

New pilots found that the stability of the aircraft made it much easier to hit targets such as German planes and ground targets. Experienced pilots appreciated that the speed and stability of the S.E.5 didn’t take away from its maneuverability. Additionally, the strong structure of the S.E.5 drastically improved its crashworthiness without compromising the visibility of the pilot.

Finally, modifications were often made upon request of the pilot so each S.E.5 could be different than the next. One pilot and ace, James McCudden, was prone to modifying his aircraft. McCudden increased his flight ceiling from 17,000ft to 20,000ft and increased the speed by nearly 10 mph.

The first unit to receive these new S.E.5’s was No. 56 Squadron. No. 56 Squadron consisted of the best pilots Britain had to offer. This was because the squadron was specifically designed to counter and kill the infamous Red Baron, the greatest ace of the German Empire. The Red Baron is credited with an incredible 80 aerial victories. With such an important target, it makes sense that No. 56 Squadron would get the S.E.5 before any other units.

Although they failed to kill the Red Baron, the squadron did eliminate the Red Baron’s closest competitor, another ace named Werner Voss, who had achieved 48 aerial victories before his death by the S.E.5. The No. 56 Squadron would also go on to take the S.E.5 into the Battles of Messines, Passchendaele, Cambrai, and others throughout the remainder of World War One, giving the S.E.5 an impressive service record in a very short time. The S.E.5 would also be utilized by the British Commonwealths of Canada and Australia up into the 1920s and even be given to Japan as part of a British Aviation Mission.