"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message ...
"Matthew G. Saroff" wrote in message
...
Looking at the stats, it seems fairly ordinary for late
WWI fighters, but it's always described as dominating the skys
over the Western Front.

It seems to have been widely regarded as the best German
fighter of WW1 and some regarded it as the best fighter
while others preferred the SE-5

Even though the Fokker D.VII was the best German fighter of WW1 it was
actually the Albatros D.V and D.Vas that bore the brunt of battle in
the 1918 air offensive. The easiest explanation of superiority is that
the Albatros was not a bad fighter (having been flown by Von
Richtofen, Goering, and other German aces) but was prone to a
continuing wing spar problems that discouraged lesser German pilots
from attempting complicated dog-fight aerial engagements that would
present more danger to themselves than to the enemy. The Fokker D.VII
by comparison had no such worries and better performance too.

Undoubtedly it was a good aircraft but by the time it was
introduced the sheer numerical superiority of the
allies counted strongly against it.

Strange that you can understand that in WW1, but fail to in WW2 when
the Luftwaffe in the end was outnumbered in the sky by up to 11-to-1!

Keith

Rob