Last Wed night was great fun.
You can use the D7 to BnZ and disengage if that's your survival tactic in the MA to start with. Think of it as the runstang of the WW1 arena. The energy management is much more demanding though, to know that get out of Dodge point that you can actually leave the fight. It seems these kites don't shed parts like they once did in dives and perform barrel rolls and hammer heads now with out ripping off your lower wings. Remember to cut throttle at the beginning of dives adding in as you get a feel before your destination.
The Dr1 looks to be a tad more believable in it's maneuverability. Stampf can vouch for this because I fought his Dr1 to a draw in a D7 in the vertical. Then had to run away to reset when I gave up the tiny alt advantage I had been using to keep him in the vertical. High and low YoYo's only give you about two times around the horizontal ring in a D7 and it's obvious the Dr1 is a better turner. Not the unbelievable turner it used to be. But, an inevitable outcome if you don't disengage just like it was in WW1. No wonder Voss held off five Se5 for so long.
And the gunnery. My best advice. Aim for only the pilot no matter what you do. These kites absorb a lot of BBs which makes the enemy con at all times a potential reversal of your fortunes. The effective gunnery range until you gain some experience is 200 and closer because of the slow rate of fire. The rounds impact just a tad under the center of whatever is being used as the sight. You can test this offline by placing WW1 kites in the drone circle and chase them using the LCG green cross.