Picture No 0268

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The SE5 fighter was designed by H P Folland at the Royal Aircraft Factory and became the most celebrated aeroplane to emerge from those workshops. A total of 5,205 were built.
The SE5a entered service with the Royal Flying Corps in June 1917 with squadrons based at the front line in France and in England for home defence. Other squadrons served in Egypt, Palestine and Mesopotamia. By the close of WWI the newly formed Royal Air Force had 16 operational squadrons of SE5as at its disposal but within a year all the aircraft had been withdrawn from service use. F904 / G-EBIA never saw service use and was purchased new after the war by Major J C Savage for his skywriting business and registered G-EBIA. It was rediscovered suspended from the roof of the Armstrong Whitworth flight shed at Whitley in 1955, was restored for the Collection by staff and apprentices at RAE Farnborough and flew again in August 1959. After mechanical problems with the original geared Hispano-Suiza it was re-engined with a 200 hp Wolseley Viper engine in 1975. In 1987 this replacement unit had to be extensively rebuilt and the aircraft flew again in 1991. Specification: Span 26ft 6 ins empty weight 1530 lbs Power 200hp Wolseley Viper V-8
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