Well, WWI fighters have fixed pitch propellers and as all such propellers, they are optimized for certain speed which is useful in combat or at least in cruise. At lower speed engine is heavily loaded and acceleration is poor, that is why long take off run and taxing with full power seems correct to me (it is the same like accelerating in car from stand still in high gear). Maybe slow early "kites" can takeoff almost instantly, but newer and faster ones certainly need longer run, because of their propellers which are optimized for higher speeds.
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