Hey Cygnus!
I completely agree with Zeb about the plane performance and target area. On another note, you have to be very careful with the brakes or the Tripehound or else it will porpoise. It is very front heavy.
A touch of game history for new comers:
For a while the Fokker D8 was available in place of the Siemens Schukert. It was a parasol monowing and was undoubtedly the "best" plane in the game. When it was first introduced to Dogfight, it was the only plane with the 5th level upgrade in all 3 performance categories. Zup eventually evened the stats by making the level 5 upgrade for speed available to the Sopwith Camel also. Even then, with the advantage of the smaller hit zone in a top performing plane, so many players seemed to hold out for the advantage of playing the German D8 that games were usually pitched against the brave souls still willing to play allied. (At the time you could usually switch sides by backing out then rejoining games until you got the side you wanted)