re: As a World War One fighter pilot, if you could pick your plane . . .

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the Fokker D.VIIF with the 185hp high-compression engine, which was probably the most powerful engine in a WWI fighter.

Gotta be the B-29. Pressurized Bomber could fly higher than ground fire could reach. Destroyed Japan and N. Korea.

Because my family emigrated from Prussia in 1834 to Texas so that no sons would have to fight for a Kaiser again. Krauts can keep their planes. The Albatross D.III was more interesting if you want to go axis powers, but suffered from poor design and workmanship because it was so complicated.

And SE5a's were in service when air superiority was going the allies' way. No fun getting shot down by superior numbers, even in a superior aircraft.

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Sopwith Camel

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How would you deal with the fact that it was too slow to either catch an enemy or escape from one? That's one reason why the Camel was replaced by the SE5a and SPADXIII. The Camel was equal in speed only to the Fokker Triplane.

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Until it's in a dogfight with a raptor

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Is the term "dogfight" really meaningful when your target is over the horizon?

World War ONE was the Age of True Dogfighting because the closer to your target the better. The goal was to fill your front vision with your target -- the enemy pilot's head -- with just enough of a lead to put some rounds in that length area right between the enemy plane's prop and the pilot's head. That's where the engine is, obviously, but also the fuel tank -- the unsealed and very flammable fuel tank -- right in front of the enemy pilot.

So we are talking about the target being about 30 yards away. You need some serious dogfighting skills to get that close. You'll need to be an expert fighter pilot to put your plane and the enemy's plane in that exact position. And you needed to be quick because, even if your plane had two forward facing machine guns, you only had enough ammo to fire for a couple of minutes, maybe less.

THAT is real Dogfighting, not shooting at an over the horizon target or shooting at a target with a guided missile.

The pilot had to really work to manage his engine during fighting. He had to control the throttle, the fuel mixture, the radiator -- all manually -- because if you pulled too many RPMs or the engine got too hot, you'd kill your own engine in the middle of the fight. AND if you pulled too many g-forces, your wings would collapse.

And finally, the stakes were never higher. No ejection seat. Parachutes were not used until the very end of the war. For almost all of the fliers, it was victory or flaming death.