Roll Rate

Each aircraft was loaded with 10 minutes worth of fuel and air starts at various altitude were used. The aircraft were allowed to reach 100mph and were then rolled left and right.

Each test was run twice or three times and an average was taken. A 360 roll in these aircraft is dangerous at low altitude. The gunsight was kept on the horizon as much as possible in these tests... but it was difficult.

Most aircraft start out rolling slow at low altitudes, roll better around 5,000 feet and then roll rate drops off again. The Spad VII has a well above performance average at 5,000 feet. The Albatros D.Va is erractic when compared to the others. The Spad XIII starts out below average, gets worse, and then picks up above 5,000 feet. The only tri-plane in the set (Fokker Dr.1) has the best roll rate by far, beating it's closet rival, the Sopwith F.1 Camel, by more than two seconds across all altitudes.

 Roll Rate LEFT
 Aircraft (100mph)  1,000ft  2,500ft  3,750ft  5,000ft  8,000ft
 Fokker Dr.1  7.2s  7.3s  7.4s  7.3s  7.5s
 Sopwith F.1 Camel  9.7s  9.8s  10.2s  10.1s  9.7s
 Albatros D.Va  9.3s  10.2s  11.0s  10.7s  10.4s
 Bristol F.2B  10.6s  10.8s  11.6s  11.6s  11.5s
 Spad VII  10.7s  11.1s  11.8s  10.4s  11.8s
 R.A.F. SE5a  10.7s  11.4s  11.2s  11.1s  12.3s
 Spad XIII  11.3s  11.9s  12.9s  12.6 s  12.2s
 Halberstadt CLII  12.1s  12.6s  12.8s  12.2s  11.9s
 Fokker DVII  13.2s  13.3s  13.3s  13.1s  13.0s

 Roll Rate RIGHT
 Aircraft (100mph)  1,000ft  2,500ft  3,750ft  5,000ft  8,000ft
 Fokker Dr.1  7.0s  6.7s  6.9s  7.1s  6.6s
 Sopwith F.1 Camel  9.5s  9.1s  9.6s  8.7s  8.1s
 Albatros D.Va  10.1s  9.8s  10.9s  9.6s  9.4s
 Bristol F.2B  9.6s  9.7s  9.9s  9.5s  9.9s
 Spad VII  10.6s  10.8s  11.5s  10.1s  11.3s
 R.A.F. SE5a  10.2s  10.9s  9.7s  9.7s  9.9s
 Spad XIII  10.9s  10.6s  10.6s  10.7s  10.1s
 Halberstadt CLII  11.8s  12.5s  12.6s  11.2s  11.0s
 Fokker DVII  12.3s  12.3s  12.1s  11.9s  12.1s