WWI Plane choice

[Motherland]

wait... is there a WWI in the game now??? im confused...bring me up to date please? its been a year...

Check the front page

[Simba]

"I'm hoping the new WW1 aircraft are modeled to a higher standard than DoA."

Me too - especially the weak-winged DoA Bristol F2B Fighter. The real one wasn't (quite) the fastest aeroplane over the Front but it was capable of a power-off terminal-velocity dive that few contemporary single-seaters could match.

On the other hand, leave the Camel's wings as they are; they really DID fold back in a RL terminal-velocity dive. I remember a brace of Camels trying to nail me in my SE5a in DoA. I waited and watched as they grabbed alt in their Humpy Ones, then one came in to the attack. I carried on flying away as if I hadn't spotted him, meanwhile easing the stick forward and putting on a shade of bank, then steepened both angles as the bellicose one closed to firing range; hey presto, off came his wings and I had plenty of time before he hit the deck to remind him on the radio bar that it took more than just shooting to down a crafty ol' cat like me. My wingman shot down the one that had slipped below to try and catch me as I descended; between us, Wingie had fired off rather less than a drum of Lewis and I hadn't fired a single shot. Excellent scout, the jolly ol' SE5a, and almost as tough as the Biff* . . .

 
 
* The Bristol F2B Fighter was nicknamed 'Biff' during WWI, or was just called 'the Fighter'. The term 'Brisfit' (short for 'Bristol Misfit') was applied to the old warhouse some time in the 1920s, when the type was the RAF's first standard Army Co-operation aircraft.  
 

[bustr]

I was compairing climb rate to 5,000 then to 10,000 ft and speeds at 5k & 10k of our first 4 crates.

It looks like the F2b is on par climbing with the three fighters, but a tad faster in level flight up to 5000ft. At 5,000 ft the average speed for the 3 fighters is around 113-116mph. Level flight at 5000 ft the F2b is about 122mph. As you climb to 10,000 ft the level flight speeds drop off proportionatly. No wonder the Sopwith Snipe introduced early in 1918 dominated the D.VII.

Snipe
Speed to 5000ft  3min
Speed to 10,000ft 9min
Speed @ 10,000ft 121mph <---level at 5k may be in the 130 ish range.

I can see maybe why we don't have the S.E.5a either. Some refrences show level flight speed in the 130 ish range. 120mph at 15k from other refrences. S.E.5a would be like having a P51 in the MA with nothing but other P51's to chase it down. But then HiTech could introduce the 204mph Fokker D.VIII. Funny parallel to how level speed and climb rate by the end of WW2 became the direction of fighter development over turning manuverability. What was it the spit5 pilots were told their greatest strength was after meeting the FW190 for the first time? You can still out turn him......

I doubt our fights will start much higher than 7k due to how slow the crates fly. A good climb rate is 5 minutes to 5000 ft......  10 to 15 minutes to 10,000 ft. Players in Aces High are not known for their patience.

[eddiek]

I thought I read somewhere that the D VIII did 204km/h, not mph?  Like somewhere in teh 125-130 mph range?

[Karnak]

I thought I read somewhere that the D VIII did 204km/h, not mph?  Like somewhere in teh 125-130 mph range?

Yes, 204km/h (127mph) for the Foker D.VIII.

Spad XIII had a top speed of 135mph.  Never seen a WWI fighter with a faster list speed than the Spad XIII.

[Gabriel]

bustr if I may ask where are those numbers from, and what other fighters are posted?

[bustr]

1919 edition of Janes..........

[Simba]

"I thought I read somewhere that the D VIII did 204km/h, not mph?  Like somewhere in teh 125-130 mph range?"

Depended on which engine was fitted, the D.VII was quite a meaty aeroplane, its intitial Benz engine gave only 160hp and the later variants had engines of 180hp; no contest on the flat against the lighter SE5a and its 200hp Wolsley Viper.

 

[Anaxogoras]

Both the SE5 and D.VII had takeoff weights of about 880kg.

[Wmaker]

1919 edition of Janes..........

Wow, I'm very much interested about that...do you have scans of it or....the actual book?!?

[zarkov]

I agree with the original poster about the odd plane choices for the first few planes.  However, I do agree that there needs to be at least a two-seater in the game to actually make it a _GAME_ as opposed to just an endless chain of furballs which gets old fast.  Given that they are only modeling one two-seater, it looks like all planes will be playable by all sides, which is probably as it should be; it ain't historical but if you read history, very rarely did sides in the air war in WWI (and WWII for that matter) have qualitative parity; it was a constant game of oneupsmanship that the Germans eventually lost given their poor access to resources.

Back to the original plane choices, this is just a matter of airing my opinions (since everyone else seems to be indulging one's ego in this matter) sooo...

...instead of the Camel, Tripe and D.VII and Brisfit, I probably would have chosen:

Nieuport 17 (flown by both the French and British - as well as the Italians - and later variants of the Nieuport sesquiplane were flown by the British well into 1918!).
Albatros D. III (probably the most common opponent the Nieuport 17 had during 1917).
Spad VII (also flown by both the French and the British - and the Italians - and soldiered on from '16 into '18 as well...plus, with the Spad VII and the other two planes, you get a nice range of different handling characteristics for air-craft for people to get used to and use).
Fe2b (and now...for something completely different...pretty much a British work-horse when it came to the air war in general...fighter, recce, bomber...it did it all...plus, when well handled, it could survive).

[Anaxogoras]

...if you read history, very rarely did sides in the air war in WWI (and WWII for that matter) have qualitative parity; it was a constant game of oneupsmanship that the Germans eventually lost given their poor access to resources.

If you read history, then you learn that the Fokker D.VII was the finest fighter of the war.

[Simba]

My history tells me that the Camel downed more enemy aircraft than any other WWI aircraft type, but then it was in service over three times as long as the D.VII. The D.VII was certainly a very good fighter - and long-lived too, several examples serving as trainers with the Royal Netherlands Air Force well into the 1930s - but it wasn't omnipotent.

Anyway, no doubt about the best and longest-lived two-seater of WWI, 'twas the Bristol F2B Fighter.

 

[Wmaker]

Anyway, no doubt about the best and longest-lived two-seater of WWI, 'twas the Bristol F2B Fighter.

Actually that's very much arguable.

I think Brequet 14 was very much comparable to the Bristol F2b when rivaling from the "best two-seater of the war - award".

[MiloMorai]

If you read history, then you learn that the Fokker D.VII was the finest fighter of the war.

Depends on what engine the Fokker had installed.