Jeeze, I thought that this was a contempoary shot the RAF over Afghanistan (since Britain can't afford helicopters anymore) - but I guess that's after the NEXT round of defense cuts.

Seriously, great kite (built lika a battlship) and no one ever settle the argument over whether it or the Camel was the better aircraft. Then there were the guys in the Brisfits...

Col Beausaber

No argument from me. The SE5a was far less likely than the Camel to kill its own pilot for no apparent reason.

At the risk of drawing the ire of the Bulldogs who frequent these premises, however, I have to admit that my favorite WWI fighter -- the one I'd have chosen to fly into combat, if I could -- would be the Fokker D.VII.

Must have been fun to fly with that 220 HS...over here, on the other side of the pond, they used to cut the V-8 "Hisso" in half to make a torquey sprint car motor for racing on the old fairgrounds horse tracks.

Would it make me a "spotter" that the first thing I noticed was that the bottom ship still has its cooling jacket fitted to the lewis gun?