3 December 1913

On 3 December 1913, the War Office ordered from the Royal Aircraft Factory a fast scout powered by a 160hp Gnome rotary engine, the SE4. The design, by Henry Folland, was for the most advanced aeroplane possible at the time, with every possible measure taken to reduce drag to a minimum, so as to attain the greatest possible speed. When completed the following summer it attained 135 mph and was the fastest airplane extant in 1914.