Thanks PapaFly for taking the time to do this testing! I find objective testing that is repeatable is much more useful than anything else. It does confirm my earlier (and simpler) testing and shows that generally things seem to be as they should be...or at least certainly that no one plane has any real usable advantage. The I-185 does seem a bit on the odder side but then it's an odd plane... I never really see it these days.

Just got in about 30 min over lunch with the P51 D-NT. What a mess. It went from an already fairly strong overheat model to overheat every single pass now if you push it above 90% power and pitch.

Just one or two swipes in a FW dogfight and I am in overheat all over the place. Overheat horizontal, overheat in seconds combat climbing, overheat even in a dive. I spend all my time just taking quick swipes and then exiting to circle while I drop pitch, rpms and throttle to cool back down.

Yes, I know, myriad posters will write in to say what a shtty pilot I am, etc....

...But, this is a bit much, no ?

Got a phone interview set up for Friday with Glenn Holcomb. Went to school in Clay County, West Virginia. Entered Army Air Corps thru examination process for talented high school graduates. Attended OCS in Texas and flew B-17 bombers until late 1943. Retrained and started flying the P51 variants during the last half of 1944 and 45. Ended the war a captain, then got a college degree and flew for Delta Airlines until mandatory retirement age of 60, and currently lives just outside Medford, Oregon. His daughter tells me he is of sound mind and still golfs (although, slowly) at age 89.

Will post the interview here and the audio track at Mediafire when I finish.

If you haven't already done so... maybe it's time to see a track of this happening. Because when I do what you describe I don't have the same problems. I still love flying the Mustang as it's just such a capable fighter.

Post it... lets have a look.

You should talk to bongodriver he's an experienced interviewer - I also think most of us would love to hear more from this vet.
A video would rock. :grin:

1) Wait, so if you can't reproduce what's in the track I gave you, who's fault is that? Our games are the same, no? 4.11 stock, no?

Ok, why don't you give me your track. Maybe we can analyze it and see what you could be doing differently.

2) The mechanism is different, but the philosophy is the same: Low tolerances, simplicity in manufacture and maintenance, reliability. Don't pick nits.

I highly doubt your ntrk was recorded in 4.10m because none of squadmates could reproduce it. Check your game instead.

I don't know .. but that smiley tells me that there is a method to the madness.. care to elaborate for those who are chart challenged and just want to enjoy the product but need to have a better understanding of what they're dealing with?

All of the ones on the chart with a slightly better tolerance to dealing with heat are .... equipped with radial engines. Its conventional wisdom that radials are more robust and I guess that's what is going on here as well. So they appear to all have a slightly different profile to heat resistance from the in-line engines.

Forget in-line versus radial.

Think air-cooled versus liquid-cooled.