Yes, the DH2 was an early attempt at mounting a forward firing machine gun, but without a synchronizer. The DH2's success against the E.III had a lot to do with tactics and organization. Some of the most vociferous praise of the DH2 that we read about came from people who weren't actually pilots, e.g. Henry Rawlinson. In reality, the forward firing Lewis gun was not a big success because the RFC insisted that it be possible to aim it upward, like a Nieuport 11 or SE5a Lewis gun, and so it had all of the inaccuracy of a flexible gun mount. Nevermind that the DH2 pilot would have to have his head in between his legs to aim upward. Hawker was reprimanded for innovating a stationary mount for his Lewis gun, but eventually came up with a compromise clip that could both hold the gun steady, and allow for it to be aimed upward (to keep the authorities happy).

Compared to the Nieuports, or even the E.III, the DH2 was something of a flying bird cage. It's no surprise that its performance in RoF is disappointing, but I would have preferred to see the DH2 modeled according to the (better) variant without the gravity tank.



That's going to be difficult. The N11 was introduced before the DH2.

The EIII can hold it's own against the N11 or even N17s in the careers. You just need to use the rudders and blip switch properly to make quick turns. My EIII career is one of my most favorite careers right now...

Salmson 2.

As a priority I'd still like to see a 1916 2 seater per side to make 1916 careers at least playable. OK the Breguet we have was a dedicated bomber, but at least its a multi crew plane that fits the timeframe. For 1916 there's nothing suitable.

The RE8 is a 1916 two-seater.

Just barely (So is DFW, btw). Altought Salsom2 would be nice for french, its problem is that it came too late. We really would need plane that were used most 1917-1918 and only one to fit IMO is 1½ strutter. With two variants (early british and later french) you can cover very long time frame.

"I must respectfully disagree with SimonC. I think there is a lot of interest in a more fleshed and historically accurate early war career. There just aren't enough planes at the moment to do it correctly. I think with the interest I've seen on these and the official forums we will see more early war aircraft for sale in the future. As for the Eindecker not being able to compete, I'll agree with you there. I just see it as a nice challenge."

Don't get me wrong - it's a good addition to the ranks, but why would you fly it when there are so few enemies you can take on without getting tatered? If you're going to do early war, ensure that there's 3-4-5 flyables in there at least.

"Wasn't the DH2 one of the response's to help curb the "Fokker Scourge" in the early war? I agree the way it is now there isn't much reason to fly an E3 but thats my point. Earlier in the war they were more of a factor"

By the time the DH2 turned up in any numbers, the 'scourge' was under control, AFAIK. It's one of those WWI myths.

Ehh, I sort of disagree. If they had determined to completely model the 1917-1918 era before giving us the DH-2, E.III, and N.11, great. But since they give us those fighters, we sort of need some early-mid 1916 recon/bombers to go with them. I would prefer a balanced (a 1916 plane for every couple or few 1917-1918 planes) approach.

I don't have any stats but there were hardly any squadrons using the RE8 before April 1917. The 2 seaters being hacked from the sky that April were BE2s, FE2s and Strutters.

True, but yes, the RE8 was introduced to the Western Front in November 1916 with 52 Squadron.

With that said, yes, I would like to see some more aircraft to help fill out the late 1916-early 1917 planeset, namely two-seaters.