Yeah, I saw a 'raaaid' on the RoF Newbie server, and thought it must be you. Even took a shot at you....
Actually, 'Les Hellequins' server gets fairly busy too sometimes, Not tried it yet - I'll wait until I've got TrackIR before I try the 'no icons' servers.
The problem with using the free planes on the servers is that neither is particularly good at dogfighting against decent opposition: the SPAD 13 is a zoom and boom plane, which most newbies aren't going to use to its best advantage, and the Alb D.Va is just plain underpowered compared to say a Camel or an SE5A - still, I suppose that giving the best planes away free wouldn't make economic sense.
The fact is though, that RoF is like most air combat sims - there are far more 'offline' players than multiplayer.
Gratuitous RoF screenshot time. Me struggling back to base in what used to be a Fokker triplane - almost made it, but the engine quit...
P.S. Raaaid, I tried to send you a PM here, but I don't think it got sent - check, and if it hasn't arrived, PM me back...