A beginner's guide to the planes

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by jazzyguitar19

What about the P-51B or any of the mustang series? I didn't see you mention those, maybe I missed it or something? How are they in dogfights? Are they better at T&B or B&Z?

Yep, Foz is right on 360 the Mustangs are pretty lame in any dogfight. If you want to use one though take the P51D and B&Z only and never try to turn with any undamaged plane. Its best used in supprise attacks jumping down on someone who is chasing another plane. Take it into a 1v1 and you lose every time. Me and SEE where testing out the planes dogfight abilitys at high altitude tonight and the low to medium altitude La.5 still murders the P-51 even at 20,000ft. The Mustang is terrible at that altitude, stalling even if you think about turning (would be useless to the B-17s)

On PS3 with the patch and not using a custom button layout, The P-51D is ment to handle much better but its still a B&Z plane. The blackouts should work to the P51 pilots advantage to, but I think alot of T&B players just play with the brightness turned way up. (maybe the blackout should have been more like a circle wipe to solid black?)

[bobbysocks]

if the P 51 was as lame as it is in this game.....honestly, i would have never been born. in arcade it does ...pretty good...in sim and real.... when there ( real/sim)all i did was stall/spin recovery. there isnt a real plane that flies this crappy.....300+ mph in a dive and getting a stall??? i believe this game works around certain parameters. if you pull the stick back to a certain degree angle of attack...or bank to a specific degree...it enters you into the "stall" zone. i have done more in a real ( not high performance ac as these) plane doing lesser maneuvers and never fell out of the sky. in all actuality, if arcade had flaps and "black out..for "G" force...it would be more real than the others..imho...

[Erkki]

They whine the same in IL-2. Funny, I have no troubles outturning anything with Balkenkrautzes(cept Storch) or racking up incredible tallies flying a P51. Controller sensitivity?

[bobbysocks]

Erkki, you PC, PS3, or Xbox?? does make a difference. if you are 360 and can do that...man, i want you to teach me! cos look at Foz and Pope's posts.....they have been doing this way longer than me and that is their assessment ( for xbox)... so if the vets have a hard time...novices like me...you get the point!

[acg515]

I never minded P-51's but I liked other planes better - it felt like Spitfires and Mustangs always were stalling on me when other planes wouldn't do that as much, but maybe I'm crazy or something.

I got one on a mission to like 500 mph at one point but it took me a while of using WEP and then hitting it before my speed got back down to normal. It's doable if you do it right, but like, who is going to do that in a multiplayer game against other people?

[kjwright]

Im a real big American fighter fan, I just find it hard to believe a p-51 B or D is crap in this game. Arguably one of the best fighter aircraft ever conceived in time of war. It was highly maneuverable and was one of the faster aircraft. Normally in a flight simulator id pick a P-38 Lightning, but to no surprise it isnt on here( tear) then id go with my two second P-51 or P-47. I think there is a method to the madness. Ive only been playing online now for a couple days and i have seen what a P-51 can do. As Chuck Yeager said its not the plane its the pilot. Me and a guy were flying P-51 D's against 2 Bf-109 G-6's. Now seing as im a rookie pilot the krauts had fun blowing me out of the sky, but some of the maneuvers like pulling the plane straight up, cutting the throttle and flipping back on your enemy did work. Or it allowed my wingman time to come up from behind and clear my six. Any plane can match another, just take unpredictability and the mind set of a mad scientist with a crazed look in his eye.

Also what about FW-190's they had there benefits too.. Let me hear about them too? Also maybe some tactics for us who will fly the P-47/P-51 regardless of better aircraft to choose....Please not im not trying to be cocky just excited to get to fight live opponents.

[wakespeak]

Actually I have been doing some research on the P-51 and too my somewhat surprise the real plane was not the best dogfighter out there. The game is looking more and more accurate. Its best virtue was range as an escort fighter while having excellent speed and decent maneuverability.

I read the actual flight manual and as many actual flight reports as I could find. The game's flight dynamics seem to match. The airplane had some real vices. The stall charactaristics ("spinning in") were not forgiving, especially if full of fuel and/or flying under 180 ias. Flick maneuvers were prohibited due to the tendancy to stall the opposite wing - which causes a spin just like in the game. At high altitude no aerobatics recommended. The airplane did not have a lot of power and did appear to lose energy quickly from what I read. It took a long time to reach cruising altitude and speed.

This graph gives a good idea what to expect. http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Im...51/P-51OLL.gif

If I am reading this correctly, the p-51 will power on stall at 200 ias if you pull a little more than 4gs, but it takes 8 g's to stall the airplane at ~250 ias. So keep it fast and you can use much more of the airplane's maneuvering envelope.

For range comparison, the La-5 only had about 40 mins of flight time, had wooden wings, and very low ammunition for its 2 cannons. Its a pure T&B fighter designed to provide air superiority at low altitude over a battlefield.

The p-51's virtues (aside from fuel economy/range) were handling at high speed, good diving speed, great visibility, and good guns. Life is good above 250 mph. Try to roll a spitfire in a high speed dive and you'll think the mustang is fantastic. The 50 cals have good ballistics and a high firing rate. If you learn where the convergence is, will light up your opponent instantly.