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My thought originally was, which German aircraft brought down the most enemy aircraft?
That is why the first aircraft to come to mind were the Fokker D.VII and the Albatros D.V/Va, simply by the fact that they were produced in such large numbers, and they had dominant roles in frontline utilization. My original inclination was the Albatros, by the fact of such a long active service life. I have a feeling that the allied loses, in actual planes lost, was greater in 1918 than in 1917, does anyone have those numbers of total losses for the allies in 1916, 1917, and 1918? If there was a great increase allied losses in 1918 versus 1917, then the D.VII may get the edge.
Another interesting angle of the "most successful" would be, (as I mentioned before), kill ratio; number of aircraft built to number of aircraft brought down, again I think the Dr.I would take the cake.
If someone has a list of downs to aircraft, (as earlier posted), I would certainly appreciate a copy to be e-mailed to me.
The comment of the eindecker is well taken, at certain times, certain aircraft were the "most successful". In their moment they were "the" airplane. It's not the same as pitting Joe Louis against Mike Tyson, airplane development gets better with time. Which leads to a much more open field of what would be the most superior German fighter aircraft of the war. Siemens D.IV, Fokker D.VIIF, and Fokker D.VIII come to mind.
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