Opinions on the Opinion poll

Despite what the consensus is saying, I believe attitude is the key. To be sucessful, marksmanship is only a small part. Flying has equal importance. However, attitude, how you approach air combat is crucial to your survival and success. Example: Boelcke, Lowenhardt, and MvR were confidant cool leaders. They had "long" and successful careers. Voss,Ball, LvR, and Luke were cocky die hard flyers, hence their rapid scoring and their brief periods on the front.

I'm pleased to see that the question comes from a reply I posted to an earlier thread about how long the previous opinion poll had been up--I offered the opinion that what we needed to do was make up some poll questions ourselves to help out. I think I was right. Let's also use this thread to offer more suggestions for future poll questions...

How about this:

Did Billy Bishop deserve the Victoria Cross? Yes/No

Which of the following aircraft do you think would have offered you the best chance of survival in its time?
1. Sopwith Camel
2. Albatros D.III
3. Nieuport 17
4. SPAD VII
5. Fokker Dr.1

Keep 'em coming!

[Shooter]

Anyone who has BEEN in combat will tell you that pure, blind, luck is the common thread in all successfull action.

No one is EVER good enough and luck always runs out...normally when you need it the most.

Shooter sends

[Barrett]

Some aircraft had lengthy careers, so "in their time" (or prime!) becomes problematical. I'd certainly like an Alb. D.III in early '17 but probably not by year end. Same for SPAD VII: a go-getter in late '16 and early '17 but that one-gun configuration left something to be desired later on.
Camel? That's an expert's weapon. The way I crunch the numbers, barely 100 Camel aces ("real" aces) accounted for 80% of the total e/a destroyed, which is way off the scale.
For single-seaters: SE-5 or SPAD XIII.
Properly flown, I like the Brisfit--tough, powerful, reasonably agile, and can shoot in 2 directions at once. Boom and I still want to man up & strafe the Bray-Corbie road someday, with Puresome (a highly splitarse type) flying top cover.

The Bishop question was already done in a previous poll.

[Rod_Filan]

I dunno about attitude, but altitude was definately something every pilot wished he had more of.

VBR
Ro§bud

So, for the aircraft that most likely would give a better chance of survival i´d choose the SE5a. One of the fastest planes of the war, failry maneuverable, resistent, well armed...what more would you want? The less likely would be the Camel or the Fokker Triplane...too sensitive.

Ok for another suggestion:
Who was the luckiest and most meritorious pilot of the war? (Having survived AND reached a good score?)
My opinions: Udet
Fonck
Lothar von Richthofen
Bishop
Joseph Jacobs
more?....

Barker, though he sure came close to not surviving!

The question was: what is the most important quality in becoming an ace? I'd say all the suggested qualities count, but marksmanship is truly vital. If you can't hit the target how do shoot anything down? You really need to do that to be an ace.

Although you may have had a question earlier
at this forum, it seems that the turnover is
high enough that you can run all the questions
again after nine months or a year. What do ya
think?