Designed in 1917, the E-1 was built by Standard Aircraft in
Elizabeth, New mainly of wood, a contract for the first 4
prototypes was accepted by the Army Signal Corps as an airfield
defense production began in January of 1918 the first 2 were
delivered with the 100 hp Gnome rotary engine. Stability and
maneuverability were acceptable but the aircraft was considered
underpowered and lightly armed with only one machine gun. The
order for the other 2 was cancelled. All was not lost however as
the Air Corps needed advanced trainers and, with some
modifications, 460 were ordered with the 100 hp Gnome. The Gnome
engine was hardly the engine for training by mid-1918 and
production stopped after 93 were built. Towards the end of 1918
an additional 75 were built with the 80 hp Le Rhone rotary
engine that was license-built by the Union Switch Company. When
World War I ended in November of 1918, all orders were
cancelled. was one of the later versions built with the license-
built 80 hp Le Rhone engine and had been owned