In January 1915 Geoffrey de Havilland piloted the D.H.1 prototype on its first flight at Hendon. Although the Renault engine left it underpowered, performance was still reasonable and the type was ordered into production, with an initial order of 49 being placed. Airco was already occupied with building and designing other aircraft, so DH.1 production was undertaken by Savages Limited of King's Lynn, which had previously manufactured fairground equipment. These aircraft used a simpler rubber cord suspension, and had a revised cockpit coaming to give a better field of fire for the observer's gun. Production was initially very slow, and only five examples of the type had reached the RFC by the end of 1915.