Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a: WWI’s Nimble Fighter

While extensive attention is often paid to the British engineering marvels that were the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane fighters of the Second World War, the amount of impressive aircraft produced by British manufacturers during the First World War often goes under-discussed. During this conflict, a lot of attention was paid to the individual pilots flying the planes, but relatively limited discussion was placed on the actual engineering marvels themselves. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5, a British biplane fighter that was a key element of the Royal Air Force’s arsenal during the First World War.