Nieuport 17 and 28 (28 especially)

SE5 A (I know it was nerfed)

Sopwith Tripe

Sopwith Dolphin

If so, tips on what to do as the SE5 A's wings rip off like paper, the Nieuport doesn't really do anything great, the 17 seems like fodder and the Tripe, well, it's just slow.

Maybe I just suck!

But, any tips would be appreciated here (or just tell me they're worthless--I know the SE5 A shouldn't be...).

The Nieuport 17 is no longer fodder. Belive me...it isn't
Can't remember what server. I take off in my little '17. Two Albatross d2's come after me, and we are all over the sky. They can't stay on my tail, and I can't hang on to either one long enough to get a killing shot in without the other climbing onto me.
Suddeny, another one joins in, and then two more. I'm fighting five Albatross D2's! I get one! He goes down, on fire and then, believe it or not, two others collide. Then my engine stops.
I glide down, unmolested and make a nice smooth landing. No kill was scored against me, and I actually think that I ran out of gas. I don't know how long we fought, but I had to write, "Whew!" It's one of the few airplanes in which I've been commended by my foes. "Nice flying Pooch. Good fight." Nice to hear. I don't get that much.
I did the same against three, getting two. I fly it whenever it's available. Love it.
It used to be one of the worst...if not THE worst airplane in the sim. But they listened to us and fixed it beautifully.
I've given up on the SE-5. Along with the N17, it was one of my favorite WW1 airplanes. I am bloody awful in it. I grab the SPAD13 instead, if it's available.
The Tripe? I lose my wings, every time. Fly it very little.
Dolphin. Best visibility of any in the game. Don't fly it if you want to do anything but sightsee
For me, N17 and Camel.

Not sure if this helps, but I was ripping off the wings from the Pup quite frequently, until I took the time to play with and adjust the response curves for the Pup and saved them to their own profile. Perhaps try this?

Nieuport 17 takes a while to master, but is an Albatros killer.
Sopwith Tripe is nice to fly but only has one MG.
Sopwith Dolphin also tricky to fly but probably one of the best planes.
SE5a is one of the best Boom and Zoom together with the Spad XIII.

Mentioning the N-17, how would you rate it alongside the Spad VII?

N17 - Good turn fighter and can beat its contempary opponents handily, but the one gun means you need steady aim when the shot opportunities arise.

N28 - Takes a bit of work to do well with as an energy fighter. You need to be very gentle with it, but be sure to make use of its superior roll and climb ability.

SE5a - Was not nerfed as thats implying imbalance. Its FM is fixed now and if you are ripping the wings off then quite simply you are pulling too hard at too high a speed.

Sop Tripe - Great little plane, but you need to master reversing into left turns (climbing, level, or diving) before you become proficient at killing with it.

Sop Dolphin - One of the very underrated planes of RoF. Its only surpassed in this respect by the Pfalz D.XII. In IRFC we call it the Spamel. Not quite a Spad, and not quite a Camel, but if they had a baby that got bits and pieces of their traits then this is it. You can outturn D.VIIFs in this using a sustained turn.

The tripe is one of my favourites, but you want a good set of rudder pedals to get the best out of it then she will slip and slide making you a much more difficult target if your defensive, on the offence you can out turn most enemy planes, but again good rudder pedals help keep it in a turn.

The Se5a only rips its wings of if you jerk them up or even worse up then down after a high speed dive, once you get used to it this is one of the best killers around and you can nearly always exit a fight when you want.

I think what everyone is saying is that you really have to take the time to learn each and every bus/crate you fly.
They are all very different, and I get kinda manic when I jump around too much between aircraft. My death frequency also seems to increase...

So pick one to become proficient in and stick with it as much as possible for a few weeks. Really, you will improve significantly.

Picking one is hard to do when the online servers restrict the aircraft you can fly.

Oh, I agree, missions rotate and the plane set changes. It can't be avoided. But, on the Central side there are always Albatrosses if not the same type they handle relatively similar.

For Entente, stick to inline engines only if possible, say SPADs and SE5a. The Dolphin is a tough FM. The rotary engined buses are fun to fly, but require some dedication to become really good in them. I'm my own worst enemy when flying the rotaries and spin in for a burton just too often. Its embarrassing...