What was the best fighter of WW1?

The SE5A kicked ass....Billy Bishop would have had more kills if he would have flown one the entire time...

[keoni121]

well hands down the best fighter is anthony fokkers d VII. it out powers out flies out manuvers and flat out runs all of the compition. every pilot that every flew the dVII fell in love with it, i had a friend that taught me to flie years ago, frank tallman, who had many many hours in all the plains on you list, and the dVII was his favorite, and as a side note i have pics of me sittin in franks original sopwith camel, and in his dVII and i would rather fly the d VII myself

[kiwimac]

The D7 was an excellent machine but Siemens, Pfalz and Albatros FlugWerke were all producing excellent machines by the end of WW1, potentially better than either the D7 or the D8.

Kiwimac

well i knew a man (frank tallman) who fles most of the planes from WWI and i mean originals, and he said the d VII was the best of the lot

[the lancaster kicks ass]

cool, i didn't think that were that many originals still flying................

Originally Posted by kiwimac

Give me your votes and then tell me why you think so. I'll let you know my opinion in due course.

Kiwimac

fokker eindecker...for it's time it was the best in the air ie,bloody april,it's most difficult to say wghat was the bedst becaus of the rapid advance of the technoligy...fokker DVII had to be the best for the longest time..

Hello everybody,

perhaps one should put in here some different categories.
First I use only Aircraft, that saw combat for at least 2 mnths of WW1

-fastest Fighter : SE 5a
-most nimble Fighter/best turning a/c : Sopwich Camel / Fokker Dr I
-best climbing fighter : Fokker D VII ( BMW IIIa )
-easiest to fly Fighter/ Beginnerfriendly : Fokker D VII
-best performer at alt > 5000 m : Fokker D VII
-best boom n zoom bird : Fokker EV / D VII
-most stable gun Platform : SE 5 a
-mont advanced/ ahead of Time : Junkers J2 ( all-metal/low-
Wing-a/c

So as even the alleys admitted, the D VII was not best at all categories, but clearly best overall fighter.

And for your Information, since the second half of 1917 the german air-force was allways outnumbered, in 1918 by a ratio of nearly 5:1 at some parts of the front. That was the reason why the germans began to form the first "Jagdgeschwader" (squadrons) out of 4 JaSta's (9 to 12 planes ) . So they hat at least equal strengh at SOME parts of the Front. First Jagdgeschwader was JG1, lead by no one else then MvR.

So guys, if you have some more Questions, I am willing to answer

Best Greetings

Brotrob

[HealzDevo]

I'll head out and pm a moderator maybe Horse can do the trick and take out the trash this forum has.

[lesofprimus]

I deleted several unnecessary posts here...

[Erich]

nice paint job right ? this has got to be one of my favorites from too many years ago. Two aces in the pic with this wild Albatross

[evangilder]

Very nice, Erich! Rare to see a pic that old that is so clear.

[Nonskimmer]

He actually took it in his back yard, last Sunday.

[evangilder]

Now THAT would be a nice artifact to own!

[Erich]

glad u guyz enjoyed the pic. Yes it is quite old but what a shot !

Say any of you have any of the many Squadron-signal publications on the WW 1 fighters. have to admit for a soft bound volume(s) these are nifty little booklets to have due to the huge photographic content. sometimes the stats are not always true but the pics are enough to buy the works

[evangilder]

I haven't seen any of the Squadron Signal books on WWI airplanes, just WWII ones. And they do have amazing shots. I just picked up 2 yesterday, one on the F4U and one on the C-47, both for future presentations. It has some good stuff, but the pictures are awesome.