The pilot makes a bigger difference than the plane.

"Plane X is better than plane Y" is an error in thinking. These planes don't fly themselves and it's not what you meet online but who that really matters.

Next most important is the situation. Then comes the plane.

So many kills in so many minutes.... do you count the mudhens? Then stop. Mudhens don't count.

You can come and do this right next to my D9'44, and the pony will be second, especially after several passes. And for the vast majority of times you need several passes in the mustang, loosing lots of E with each pass. The poor one-pass-one-kill capability means most P51 drivers repeat their BnZ attack, and the poor power-to-weight ratio and relatively high wing loading means they bleed lots of E with each pass.

Pony drivers underestimating the D9's diving power are in for a big surprise. I regularly reach 870kph in the D9, the redline being 900kph. Here's a trick we often play on P51s: I'll let one of my A9-flying squadmates move away from the diving pony's 6 o'clock, say to the 5 or 7 o'clock, so the pony driver can see him, and see that the FW is not gaining on him...all while i creep up on his ass unseen and blast him to bits in the D9. Especially the initial dive acceleration is much poorer in the P51 compared to the A9 and D9, power-to-weight ratio being the issue.

Back when I was flying P-51 on a regular basis ( v4.08 ) I would always rate the planes in the following way: D9 > Tempest > P51. D9 to me, was by far the best plane in the game. I recon it still is. That is the only opponent I truly feared when flying Ponies.

The tactic you describe here is something I encountered lately all three times I tried flying a fighter. It seems all 190 pilots nowadays fly in pairs and do this very thing. One of the reasons I will pick up a Tempest over Mustang when flying online.


Thank you. :)

If you take a look at the performance of the 44'D-9 and P-51D and give the planes the same amount of fuel, you'll find that the P-51 has a very similar power loading and a lower wingloading than the Fw 190. It bleeds about the same energy as a Fw in a turn. It really depends on the altitude you're fighting at, the Fw's best altitudes being down low and between 4000 and 6000m, but between 1000m and 4000m, the P-51 is much better performing.
Weight with 500kg fuel: D-9: 4270, P-51D: 4420
maximum power output: D-9: 1750, P-51D: 1720
wing area: D-9: 18.6, P-51D: 21.4

But the main advantage, and the most important advantage to me, is the speed advantage the P-51D maintains at nearly all altitudes. It allows the pilot to engage and disengage at will. It helps to maintain high speeds after a dive, and thereafter, a better zoom climb. Not that a zoom climb with someone on your tail is a good idea, ever.

I've attached Il-2 compare data for a 44'D-9 and P-51D, both with 500kg fuel. Illustrates my points nicely (blue Fw 190, red P-51).

This is for the current version of the game? IIRC '44 D-9 was a better performer in previous versions...

I agree that P-51 holds speed like no other plane. Once you get it there, that is.


EDIT: Still, this coincides with my experience in dueling with 190s.

Yes, this is the current version.

The P51 and FW190 are fairly evenly matched when in good hands... which comes to the point - all pilots being the same, it's the plane that makes the difference.

I had a low, slow and twisting online DF with a P51B (or C), which went on for a minute or so. We were both taking pot shots, but he never really hurt me, but a few glancing shots of 4 cannons and 2 mg's were taking it's toll.
He eventually lost control and ... bought the farm.

:)

I agree.

Yea Fw-190 is the only plane I'm really worried about when flying a P-51 lol.

And relative pilot quality. By 1944, except for a steadily diminishing band of Experten, most Luftwaffe fighter pilots were kids fresh from training with very few flying hours or bomber pilots hastily retrained to fly fighters. I'd count the former as Rookie level AI and the latter as Average or maybe Veteran.

By contrast, while most USAAF pilots were relatively green, they had enough basic flight and fighter training to count as being Average quality, and many of them stayed alive long enough to become Veterans.