The prototype first flew in September 1933, and on 16 October 1934, the Belgian Air Force evaluated it against five competitors: the Avro 626, Breda Ba.25, Fairey Fox III, LACAB T-7, and the Renard R-34. A sixth competitor, the Caproni Ca.113, suffered an accident on arrival and was disqualified. The SV.5 outclassed all its rivals in the maintainability trials, and was less expensive than any of them. However, the Avro 626 was selected for political reasons.
