Dawnpatrol, I suspect you might have suffered mainly from bad luck. Engine fires in the BE2 are certainly a possibility, but I haven't encountered them with the frequency you report. WOFF does model unreliability reasonably well. For example, if you fly the SE5 with the 150 hp Hispano Suiza engine, you are going to suffer fairly frequent breakdowns and the possibility of an engine fire. I found, however, that the frequency of problem dropped considerably if you avoid cruising at full throttle, reserving full power for combat situations. This same applies to the Spad 7.

I'm tempted to suggest flying the BE2 the same way, although 80% power in a Quirk is pretty much dead stop.