The S.E.5 flew about a year before the D VII, yet it was faster and had about the same climb rate. Can it be compared to the D VII, or perhaps even be considered as the better aircraft in some respects ?
SE5A was faster than the DVII, or indeed any other WW1 German aircraft, but it is outclassed by the DVII in terms of agility, climb rate and diving capability. The DVII could maintain a tighter turn for a longer time than the SE5a, but did not perform well at lower speeds, and had poor accelleration. If the SE5a could slow down the DVII, then it would be likely to win, but in a dogfight or a diving strafe the Fokker DVII would usually come out on top. The DVII was also less prone to stalls. Theres a very good reason that the 1918 armistice SPECIFICALLY stated that all DVII's be immediaely surrendered... It was an exellent aircraft
i read somewhere that the d7 could be made to almost hang mid air from its prop...is this true ,smeg?...very handy in a climb /stall dogfight...
Yup, you're right majorwoody ... Both the D7 and S.E.5.a could hang on their prop for a split moment while firing upwards into the belly of the enemy. this was a tactic often used against enemy recon/bombers, as their mounted guns could not reach a plane beneath them. The S.E.5.a was not quite as good at this as the D7, so a lewis machine gun was fitted to the top wing of most aircraft, aimed upwards at a 45 degree angle so you could simply fly behind and below him to shoot him down.
