I recall a one v. one in my SE5a against a Fokker D.VII one quiet day in Dawn of Aces. We spotted each other at the same time co-alt at about 6,000 feet, then climbed all the way to service ceiling, about 18,000 feet for the SE5a, each of us looking for a shooting opportunity. The D.VII could clamber maybe 2-3,000 feet higher but not quite turn with the SE; while eventually able to dive to the attack, he wasn't too hard to dodge and he passed me without being able to get a shot. My turn to try, same result. Up we circled again. He had to be careful not to offer a shot to my overwing Lewis gun when flying overhead; I had to beware his ability to dive fast and get a snap shot in from his twin Spandaus. When above him, I had to allow for his aircraft's vaunted ability to 'hang on the prop'; he knew that if he tried it, the SE was fast into and strong in the dive, so he didn't. The SE was slightly faster than the D.VII but not enough to run clear before receiving a shot from his six; the D.VII had the same problem, so we had to just stick at it.
We flew up and down, round and round, each watching and waiting for the other to make the one mistake needed to end it - which never happened. After nearly two hours, now down near the ground and with fuel just sufficient to make it home, we each saluted the other and turned for base. I was sweating like an old cheese when I landed and he told me later that he was just the same. Neither of us had fired a shot - and thus ended the best 'combat' I've ever had while flying online.
Yes indeed, you can have a great time in a nearly-empty arena when flying the old 'stick-and-wire' biplanes.
