sentences:  Performance was excellent – it had about the same speed as the S.E.5a, but climbed rather better.The only complaints about its handling were of poor lateral control (early S.E.5s had similar problems, which were quickly resolved).The S.E.5a was by this time already in production, and was proving itself an excellent service type – it was however in chronically short supply, and this situation could only have been exacerbated by an attempt to introduce a new type that would have competed with it for production facilities (Austins already had a large SE.5a contract) and engines (since both fighters used the Hispano-Suiza 8, of which there was at this stage a severe shortage).