What is it like to fly a First World War fighter plane?

Knowing such an airplane is your warmount would doubtless give pilots a great psychological comfort, not to mention the fact that American fighter planes tended to be well-armored against even heavy cannon. The P-51 is often slandered as a plane that would go down if hit in the coolant line. read more

I've never flown a First World War fighter. Some good books out there on the subject though. Look up some of the great fighter aces of the era including Billy Bishop, Eddie Rickenbacker, Raymond Collishaw, Donald MacLaren, Manfred von Richtofen, Rene Fonck, Ernst Udet, Edward Mannock, James McCudden, Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor and many others. read more

One thing American pilots did not fly was American-made fighter planes, at least not in combat. That said, the United States had several interesting planes in development or even limited production before the end of World War I, but none saw combat. read more