In article ,
Keith Willshaw wrote:

/Mitsubishi Zero../

It wasnt, the engine was at least 2 generations beyond
anything achievable in 1918.

I'd thought of the Ishak, but again the engine was well beyond anything
possible in 1918. Best engines available were the Cosmos (later Bristol)
Jupiter and the Napier Lion - hurrying these along by a few metallurgical
nudges might have been possible, and it's not too much of a leap from the
technology required for those to being able to build the Curtis V12
of the middle 1920s - which leads to my suggestion:

The Fairey Fox

2 seat light bomber, first flew in IIRC 1926, when it was close on 50 mph
faster than any fighter. Carried a decent load for its time (1.5 times or
so the DH9A load, I think) and was also available as a heavy 2-seat
fighter. Trying to deal with Foxes in 1917 or 18 with the fighters
available then would be like trying to stop Canberras with 1944 fighters.
Just not on. I'd suggest the Fox as one possibility. Another might be
one of the big 1920s commercial transports plus gliders (the Lion, Jupiter
or Curtis V12) could give enough power for glider tows. That would allow
rapid re-supply of troops after advances across no-mans land (this was
being done with smaller aeroplanes and parachute drops by 1918) and
would mean that you could provide recently-advances troops with artillery
pieces, heavy machine guns, wire entanglements and probably even light
armoured vehicles - tankettes - by glider before the enemy could arrange
a counter-attack. That would probably have the greatest effect of all.
Perhaps something like a more powerfully-engined Vickers Victoria or
similar?

--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)