 After De Havilland was appointed assistant designer and test pilot at the Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough (later the Royal Aircraft Factory) in December 1910 the War Office bought the aircraft for £400.the aircraft was given the designation F.E.1 ("Farman Experimental")

After the failure of his first aircraft design Geoffrey de Havilland began construction of his second aircraft, re-using the engine that he had designed for the earlier machine.Like the Bristol Boxkite and several other contemporary British designs, this closely followed the general lines of the Farman III, being a two-bay pusher biplane with an elevator carried on booms in front of the wing, the pilot seated on the lower wing directly in front of the engine, and a second elevator and a rudder behind the wings.