You might not think so but the guys who flew them would disagree with you, if what they write and are quoted to have commented is to be believed ; )
I suspect just as now once an order and been placed with the contractors they have fulfil it for all sorts of daft reasons that make no sense to us retrospectively but then what else was available during the summer of 1917? The Pflaz DIII and the Dr1 didn't come until the autumn and in limited numbers.
As an example of bizarre procurement procedure: during WW2 DeHaviland had a contract to build a given number of Mosquitos. The war ended before they were all built but DH still had to finish the order to get paid. To say that an aircraft had been completed the aircraft had to be tested and signed off. Each time this was done the engines were removed and the brand new airframe scrapped. Utter madness but it had to be done to meet the requirements of the contract…
The pilots weren't gods who controlled the purchasing. Only the likes of
MvR had a strong voice in the selection of new designs and could have two or even three planes available to them at any given time but that luxury wasn't afforded to most pilots who flew what they were given, just as Verner Voss flew the Pflaz when the Albatros DIII might have been his preference.
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