 In total, eleven R.E.5s were sent to France, with a further nine being used by training units.The R.E.5s were used for reconnaissance and bombing missions over France, although at first they were not fitted with bomb-sights or bomb racks, bombs being carried in the observer's cockpit and dropped by hand when the aircraft was over the target.Captain John Aidan Liddell was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action on 31 July 1915, being badly wounded when flying an R.E.5 but successfully recovering the aircraft and saving his observer.