There are lots of choices..... and that is a good thing.

For surviving and DFing it's the Sopwith Snipe for me.
For damage potential and fun factor it is the Gotha.

One odd thing I noticed with the Snipe campaigns is that my squadmates don't drop their bombs when engaged and DFing enemy scouts before we reach target. They will even flee with a crippled craft to the nearest friendly airfield and land with out dropping their bombload.

Breguet XIV

Hmm...
If we were only talking about Recce/Bombers, I'd take the Strutter. In Comparison to a Gotha, all you can drop are a few New-Years-Eve-Firecrackers, but you have got a deadly Gunner with great Firing-Arcs, enough Agility to get rid of Pursuers in Curves, a fantastic front Gun and an adequate FoV...

B-17

Yep, I usually felt like we were escorting our early Nieuport escorts when that situation arouse. Especially N11s once early Albatross were encountered. All those Sopwiths are good choices for an enemy ground target attack.