At the beginning of the 1930s. Belgian Air Force announced a competition for the creation of training and combat aircraft, which could be used for various support purposes. The winner in 1933,  the company Stampe-et-Vertongen, submitting the SV-5 . It was a double braced biplane of mixed construction (wings, fuselage wood metal). The aircraft was equipped with one Armstrong-Siddeley "Serval" 5  of 340 hp  Armament consisted of two machine guns  and up to 400 kg light bombs that were suspended under the wing. Especially not standing out among the other similar machines SV-5 turned out to be cheaper to manufacture and reliable in operation. Nevertheless, the Belgians themselves have ordered only a small batch of the aircraft,  Belgian SV-5 were operated for about five years and by 1939 had been withdrawn from the Air Force

The SV-5 was released for export . In 1935, the aviation delegation of Latvia had chosen  this plane. In July 1938 the Latvian company VEF gave an order to build six SV.5:s, in addition to the 10 already purchased in Belgium.The main difference from the Belgian aircraft was to replace  Armstrong Siddley "Serval" V  with the "Cheetah" IX. The last of the ten previously acquired aircraft was already equipped with this engine. Before the war SV.5 managed to excel  in the "fly around Latvia", held from 1 to 2 October 1938.

Their military service proceeded relatively quietly - all aircraft were transferred to the 6th reconnaissance squadron, and no high-profile incidents have happened to them until 1940. But before the annexation of Latvia on 31 May 1940, Lieutenant Léonce Vayders in one of the SV-5 undertook an attempt to escape to the USSR . The aircraft was tested by the Soviet authorities, but on June 4 in the city of Gulbene it crashed,  pilot Morkans.
With the arrival of the Soviet army, almost half of the Latvian aircraft went to landfill, although the SV-5 managed to avoid this fate. Of the remaining machines the 24th ORAE  was  formed. .
On the morning of June 22 airplanes became involved for reconnaissance missions, and on June 27th the Latvian pilots received very clear orders to attack German bombers . During the first week of fighting the squadron lost only one scout, but its military value was  very low. 24th ORAE was withdrawn to the rear on July 1, and subsequently based to Pskov, where the SV-5 were used as decoys and destroyed by German aircraft.
The Latvian pilots who chose the side of Germany, needed to improve  their training to German standards and therefore in  the end of 1941 the factory VEF decided to re-start production of multi-purpose aircraft SV-5, . Under the control of the Germans in 1942, they collected the four aircraft, engines equipped  with "Cheetah" IX  Machines were tested by the pilot Kirilsom Miķelsons Kalnciems at the airport and was in 1943 transferred to the Estonian squadron , Sonderstaffel Buschman. The squadron began operating in Estonia, making reconnaissance flights over the Baltic Sea. After a short time it became clear that the SV-5 were not suitable  for maritime patrol and all four planes were removed from the combat squadron and later only used as a training aircraft.

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