A little factoid on Rickenbacker's Spad. I got this from a report I stumbled into while doing research at Air University (Maxwell AFB AL) in about 1995. The US Army, for obvious reasons, was not at all happy with American aircraft production during WWI and were determined to produce modern types domestically "just in case." In 1919 the US Army had Rickenbacker go to Europe and fly the most recent fighters in production and give his recommendation on which to use for "inspiration" for future developments. I can't recall whether that meant he would have flown a Fokker DVII. Anyway he recommended his old Spad XIII - he praised the ruggedness of the aircraft but his primary reason was that you couldn't beat it in a dive, and a fast dive could get you out of trouble. I have no idea whether this report had any impact on actual decision making later. But the WWII USAAF head of fighter development BG Ben Kelsey (great autobiography "The Dragon's Teeth?" still in print) discussed the great emphasis put on ruggedness by the USAAF because you had to fly from Alaska to Panama. (In 1942 Kelsey flew a Spit V around the US, and, as much as he loved the plane, considered it inferior to the P-40 for US requirements because it fickle in less than good conditions.) And, for what it's worth, every major US fighter - spare the P-38 - had excellent dive characteristics: one of the upsides of the "Detroit Iron" school of aircraft construction.
Eric
