Well Don, if you are allowing any era, I would go for the Vulcan Bomber. I couldn't believe its take of and the angle of ascent - it seemed to go upwards so steeply and slowly, I sort of half expected it to fall backwards down the line it was taking. And there was the noise - seemed like a case of sheer brute power. I've found a page with a section "Vulcan XH558, The Loved One by Michael Rondot" that expresses the feelings I had wacthing one of these at RAF Valley open day. Sorry the whole page here is so long.

Back to the topic of WW1, I'm afraid I don't know any of the planes.