The Idea of letting the Player choose his own Plane from a small Selection of 2 or 3 different Types, as a Reward for becoming Ace, has already been mentioned in the Wish-List some Time ago.
My Question:
Was that really common practice during WW1, or was that more of a rare Exception for the few Pilots, that not only were extremely skilled, but also had close Connections to their King / Kaiser / local Arms Dealer ;-) ?

From what I read, it seems that the latest fighters were given to the best flyers,
when there were less new planes than pilots.
But sometimes there was a choice possible, for example between the Albatros D.III OAW,
the Albatros D.V, and the Pfalz D.IIIa.
Then the aces would of course make their choice, depending on which plane they prefered.

Lucky ones had even two different types for their use, like Theo Osterkamp wrote
in his book "Du oder ich". He had the Albatros (or even the Fokker D.VII - don't remember
that now), and also the new Fokker E.V parasol (which he let his mechanics equip with
a stronger French rotary they had captured).

If I remember correctly, Albert Ball was allowed to continue to fly his favorite Nieuport.

Same to Julius Buckler he did fly the Mops and the Lilly. Guess these guys did fly multiple missions pro day and needed a top fit plane.

Yes he was authorized by Trenchard himself as long as he flew the Se on squadron patrols.

You guys are talking about the cream of the crop. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry with five victories was given the choice to fly whatever he wanted just because he was now an "ace."

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Too true Jim. As I mentioned in another thread just recently, by late war five victories and 10 Pfennig would get you a large cup of coffee in Germany, to which Hasse corrected it would have been ersatz coffee at that.

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I wasn't talking about a 5 kill ace either. When you have a pilot with almost 300 missions and 300 hours and over 60 victories, you would think he would get a little latitude in whether he would like to continue flying his Nieuport or not.

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Well - yes - you would think. But then, brass hats and logic are strangers more often than not.

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Haha, you would think. It makes you wonder if Dilbert was really about the military instead of business.

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hmmmm, Dilbert and the military ...




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Hahaha...

I would actually venture that from a logistics point of view its far more logical to have the pilots all flying the same crate rather than needing to keep spare parts for ten different aircraft.

I remember reading that William Barker managed to swing it when he was in command of an F2B squad in Italy, to have a camel for his personal use.

But I agree that overall it really seemed to be limited to a few pilots, who prolly had the right connections. For the most part you flew what you were given.

I think it was Berthold who liked flying the Pfalz as opposed to his other mount, an Albi! There is mention of him touching the tent rooftops to gets his wheels rolling before he landed!!!

@Arup: Ouch! No wonder, he was in Hospital that often LOL

Okay, so Airplane-Selection seemed to be reserved for the few Guys who could fly well AND had Family-Members high up in the Hierarchy...

It sure would be nice if WOFF manager somehow recognized the status of the player, if he happens to be the top ace (or at least one of the best) of his nation. In my opinion, it would tremendously add to the sim's already fantastic level of immersion.

This is the only department where WOFF is still lacking compared to Red Baron. You can't actually become a squadron CO in WOFF, nor get some special privileges with your aircraft.

WOFF Gold, I'm looking at you!