I was FLS in DOA until late 2001. Was =Geff= still doing the aerobatic competition when you were there?
I played when it first came out, as well as Raider Wars. It must of been 1998-1999 when I first got into it. I started flying the CL2 and me and a friend of mine used to sit there, him on the mouse and me on the joystick taking turns between pilot and rear gunner, that was a real hoot.
Later I flew DVIIs with -walt- and the gang as a squad and we avoided any turny fights unless it was a f2b or spad or we would try to outnumber them. We also got pretty efficient at killing zeppelins. I used to get 2-3 zeppelings per run on a good day.
After that, I flew the DVA exclusively and had a pretty good fighting chance against the Camels and Dr1s, which everyone classed as uber or overmodelled.
Concerning trainers, I wouldn't have the best memory. I went through a bit of time in the TA with them, but couldn't recall any one in particular except that they were all pretty cool.