P-51 Combat Tips and Tricks ( Dogfight Guide )

[K_Freddie]

Originally Posted by pandacat

Is the DCS stall characteristics better or worse than that of IL-2? Just curious, cuz I don't own one.

P51- It's too mild for my liking.. you really have to be dumb to put it into a spin.
When you stall, centralising controls, it literally recovers by itself.. for a HP WW2 aircraft this doesn't seem right.There's a big margin of shaking before it finally stalls.. fluttering away like crazy. If you're gentle with it it flies like a dream and is fast. In DCS you really have to fly it fast to get the best out of it.
The AI is impossible, but I hear it uses the same FM as the user ... and it doesn't make unforced errors. . It's a real challenge to even get near it - you learn fast.

Maybe my stick setup is not right (I'm not sure where to set it up yet).
Still working on it.

[pandacat]

Originally Posted by K_Freddie

P51- It's too mild for my liking.. you really have to be dumb to put it into a spin.
When you stall, centralising controls, it literally recovers by itself.. for a HP WW2 aircraft this doesn't seem right.There's a big margin of shaking before it finally stalls.. fluttering away like crazy. If you're gentle with it it flies like a dream and is fast. In DCS you really have to fly it fast to get the best out of it.
The AI is impossible, but I hear it uses the same FM as the user ... and it doesn't make unforced errors. . It's a real challenge to even get near it - you learn fast.

Maybe my stick setup is not right (I'm not sure where to set it up yet).
Still working on it.

Man, it sounds like my plane. Too bad DCS p-51 is just a one-plane show. If it had been something with a decent campagin with other non-flyable WWII planes, I would not have hesitated to buy it. I really wish they set up a differnt world (call it DCS WWII world or something) for WWII planes instead of stuffing it in modern era.

[K_Freddie]

Put it to you this way..
I (and many others) have put 10 years into IL2.. with DCS I feel like a noob... having to learn to fly sims all again.

- You have to know all your dials, bells and switches.
- You have to know your engine (you'll blow the engine anywhere between startup.. and 10 minutes). EM is crucial here, especially in a DF.
- and of course how to fly the thing to it's advantage

This P51 has little quirks of maneuvering - it not a matter of pointing the nose and shoot at the target as in IL2.. everytime you turn, roll etc.. RL secondary forces are real here and your nose bobs all over the sky. I don't have rudders or a decent input system yet, so cannot control these forces... but its a plane that feels loose in the sky - you have to let it fly itself.

I'll make a vid.

[pandacat]

Originally Posted by K_Freddie

Put it to you this way..
I (and many others) have put 10 years into IL2.. with DCS I feel like a noob... having to learn to fly sims all again.

- You have to know all your dials, bells and switches.
- You have to know your engine (you'll blow the engine anywhere between startup.. and 10 minutes). EM is crucial here, especially in a DF.
- and of course how to fly the thing to it's advantage

This P51 has little quirks of maneuvering - it not a matter of pointing the nose and shoot at the target as in IL2.. everytime you turn, roll etc.. RL secondary forces are real here and your nose bobs all over the sky. I don't have rudders or a decent input system yet, so cannot control these forces... but its a plane that feels loose in the sky - you have to let it fly itself.

I'll make a vid.

I fully understand u. I used to play Janes WWII for many years. Man, I felt like a king in that game. But the first time I played Il-2, I felt noobie, too. A lot of curses and swears before I finally got a little handle on the game. These sim games all have steep learning curves and I believe that's the fun part of it. Speaking of rudder, I don't have one either. I use twist rudder on my old x52pro occasionally. That thing is pretty useless. Just wonder if rudder pedals can significantly make life easier flying? Anyone can shed light on that? Thor, I am pretty sure you have one, just judging from the way you control your aircraft.

Also, a quick challenge for everybody. Anybody can beat ace AI bf-109G6+(any variant higher than G6) with P-51? I can handle FW190's (except D9) ok cuz they are bad at high altitude, but 109 seem to be able to follow you anywhere from sea lvl to 9000m. You can't outturn, outclimb. The only way seems to run ahead and then turn back to do headons.

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by pandacat

... Just wonder if rudder pedals can significantly make life easier flying? Anyone can shed light on that? Thor, I am pretty sure you have one, just judging from the way you control your aircraft.

The whole 'MUSTANG' video features an era when I used nothing but MS FF2 and its FOV for situational awareness. Twist rudder control FTW hehe. Nowadays I do use rudder pedals (SIMPED F16 USB) in combination with TiR 5.

I do have to comment on that - with TiR it is actually harder to spot contacts at longer range. Or it just might be be my age and leisure since I am flying bombers and lack the aggressiveness of the old days when I was flying fighters exclusively... Go figure.

IMO the trick lies in trimming her.

[K_Freddie]

Tell me if this link doesn't work..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/emv0mqfagqjn9r5/DCSP51.f4v (38 Mb)

Someone made a German AI in a P51. This is an a/c padlock from the AI POV
One gets a fair idea of the scenery detail, even with this movie where the resolution has been reduced about 2.5x from the original.

[K_Freddie]

I finally nailed one (1/2 speed vid)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/029s9g7umm...CS_P51Wide.f4v (25MB)

Nice thing with the recording is that even the sounds slow down, so you're hearing gunfire and other sounds at 1/2 speed as well.

[MaxGunz]

Originally Posted by K_Freddie

This P51 has little quirks of maneuvering - it not a matter of pointing the nose and shoot at the target as in IL2.. everytime you turn, roll etc.. RL secondary forces are real here and your nose bobs all over the sky.

We had that in 4.01 and 4.02. The ZOO was extra noisy for months. Remember?

[K_Freddie]

Sure, but in DCS it is a LOT different, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.