Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5

History

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E. 5 ("S.E." stands for "Scout Experimental") was designed from the start for "green" pilots. Additionally, the aircraft is designed to be a fast enough platform to produce a certain number of products. Judging by the fact that this aircraft became the aircraft of many aces (Billy Bishop, Cecil Lewis, Edward Mannock, etc.) and produced about 5,200 of them, it is safe to say that he realized the design basic goal.

The S.E.5 later became the Royal Aircraft Company's most successful product of the war.

The design of the S.E.5 (attributed to Henry P. Folland, J. Kenworthy and F.W. Goodden) consisted of equal span upper and lower wings, albeit with a single cabin and parallel strut support.

The pilot sits in an open-air cockpit in the relatively center of the boxy fuselage, which itself is made of fabric on a wooden structure. It's positioned directly behind and below the upper wing and of course provides unobstructed side, rear and downward visibility. Forward visibility was limited as the longer section of the front fuselage housing the engines took up critical space.

The landing gear is attached with two main landing gear and a tail skid. Armament consisted of a fixed 7.7mm Vickers machine gun fired through a two-bladed propeller through Constantinsk intermittent gear, and a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun on the upper wing Foster mount.

Pilots need to lower the Lewis machine gun using rails to replace the ammunition drum on this weapon. The S.E. 5 is also capable of carrying four drop bombs externally.

The aircraft first flew on 22 November 1916 and entered service in March 1917. The base S.E. 5 was equipped with a 150 hp Hispano-Suiza 8-line engine, and 77 examples were produced. It was followed by the S.E. 5a, which offered more power from its 200-hp water-cooled Wolseley W.4A Viper inline V-8 engine.

The models were initially used side by side until the S.E. 5a outnumbered the S.E. 5. An S.E. 5b model series was retained as a follow-up design, with a slightly redesigned nose section and a shorter lower wingspan. This model was never produced.

Despite some initial problems with the engine and the unreliable Constantinsco breaker mechanism of the Vickers machine gun, the S.E. 5 series went on to be one of the best Allied aircraft of the war.

The design proved herself to be a capable dog fighting dog (not on par with the best dog fighting dogs, but she could easily fly herself, at least giving new pilots a chance to succeed), but was also capable of making light bombers Doubling the role thanks to inherent stability and a fundamental design approach. Handling is reportedly good, no doubt related to the design approach with the "green" pilot in mind.

In the end, SE 5 was a complete success. The plane was instrumental in the summer campaign of 1917, keeping the Luftwaffe out. Pilots (some initially disliked the plane) remember this type as a reliable, fast and responsive machine.

The S.E.5 continued to serve throughout the British Empire and foreign air forces.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

Armor

Changes