Why did they sandbag the P51?
 

First, let me say the game is a blast, and I'm having very much fun with it!! But, why is the P-51 so bad? This was one of the most dominant fighters of the second world war.

When I play (realistic) M.P. I am being OUTRUN by everything..... Spits, Hurri's, 109's... ect. I dont mean just by a few feet a sec, but huge lengths, and I can't do a full loop at WEP without a stall indicator??? This plane should have power to spare! I also set my hud to display MPH and i'm stressed to reach 300. No friggin way, the top speed of P-51 was around 500+. (I know altitude is a factor, but 400 at 5000 ft should be no prob.)

I handles terrible, bassically unflyable at best, no turning fights at all, (I think a He 111 could out turn this thing in the game...) I realize it was not a turning fighter, but I can't use my speed or my power reserves to boom n zoom, as everything can out run it.

Some of the other threads say that the La5 flight model is a bit off, wondering if this could be the case. I have tried the P51-b aswell and same results, turns "slightly better" but still no power....

Please fix this.

Also the kills in M.P. does anyone know if they will be addressed?? I fill them full of lead only to watch them spin to the earth, (because I shot half their wing off) and then they crash, no kill???

Thanks, and enjoy the game.

You are correct, I was sooo excited when I unlocked the P51 and I got chewed up and spit out! I was wondering why I has having such a hard time breaking 250mph....what the hell?

I agree, even in the demo it was 10 times worse then the spit, it should be equal at the least, it actually was rated better then the Spit almost all around. It is a real disapointment and definantly has to be changed. I think everyone can agree.

Yea, I was wishing that the States would have one decent plane, but seems like they sandbagged every U.S. plane, from what I can tell.

It actually makes me mad...the P-51 is my all time favorite plane, and at the Toronto International Air show i was watching the HORSEMEN (the only P-51 formation demontration team) and what they can do in it is awesome, so i tried what they do in the demo, and i kept stalling...Weird actually.

But now you say EVERY american plane is like that... hows the P-47? (IN MY TOP 10)

I dont know about the P-47 personally, Dont have it unlocked yet.... But with the lack of people using it in all modes in all realisims, leads me to believe the nerfed that one too. Damn right, the P-51 is my favorite as well. Im sure if they released a P-38 of P-40 they would just sandbag them too.... how very dissapointing.......

Sounds bad...i hope they have allot of downloadable content, like CO-OP missions, new planes and paint schemes. For some reason your post reminded me about that stuff.

It would be real nice if they released the P-40 and P-38, love those planes too.

Better almost all round than the Spitfire?! The P51D is about 30mph faster than a Spitfire IX and has more range. It also has a high speed roll rate advantage. The Spitfire IX accelerates and climbs better, will out turn a P51D easily and don't get me started on the Spitfire XIV. The only advantage a P51D has over a Spitfire XIV is range.

excactly, how can it be the best when it cant even fly to germany and back...LOL, just kidding, im talking the kinds that were in MAJOR theatres of the war. LPys, most of your post didn't really make too much sense.

ok, we get it, the spit was good, but SO was the P-51. Way better than it's being represented in this game.

Tes...lets leave it at that...

I agree, they really did make the P51 a bad plane. It doesn't handle at all like when I got to ride in one. (Chino Air show FTW!!!) But you guys could always revert to the Yak-3? Nothing wrong with that plane one bit, besides the Yak-1 canopy.

That i will think about...

P51 Mustang
 

I was looking forward to unlocking the P51 mustang - I have unlocked the 1st one (Italian campeign) but when I went to take it onlin I was a but dissapointed with the guns. Are there weapon unnlocks for it or ar there other marks of the mustanf with heavier firepower?

Well, i don't remember if the P51 has unlockable weapons to be honest...But there's one thing I remember about both P51 B and D in BoP: they are real flying bricks....Man did I struggle in Realistic mode to complete the Battle of the Bulge campaign...This plane is supposed so be a real flying legend, and it's nearly unflyable. Each turn is a pain in the A**.....

Anyway, i hated this Battle of the Bulge campaign ^^, but was glad to be rewarded with the Me163 for finishing it :)

During the battle of the Bulge campaign missions you will unlock a P51-D that has 6 .50cal MG's. It is much better than the version you unlock during the Sicily campaign. It does not take much to shoot something down with those .50 cals. The P51-D is also more stable when firing.

The P51-D can turn well but you need to lower the elevator sensitivity to not stall, but it really is a boom and zoom fighter not a turner.


EDIT The poster above beat me too it while I was writing this.

Look down in the left side of the cockpit, there is a lever marked
"supercharger" it's set to OFF!

That's an interesting observation. Now Anton just needs to tell us how to switch it on. :)

I have a problem with the speed of ALL the planes. They don't seem to want to go more than 280mph in level flight. Even the ME262 only goes about 340mph.

Is it to do with true airspeed and indicated airspeed ?, I think we are possibly only seeing true and not indicated which would explain why all the aircraft seem to go so slow. or have the dev's nerfed them to make dogfights a bit more even.

It does seem strange online that 1941 aircraft are as good as 1945 variants. Although I have learnt to not bother getting into a turning dogfight with my 109-G6, I head on at the enemy, firing, then as I pass I engage WEP and pull up into a 40 degree climb, wait until the person following me has dropped back about 1.5km and is a couple of thousand feet below me, then I do a Split S and repeat from the start.

Yeah I was havinf a hard time with the 1st P51 mission - I had allowed myself 5 attempts on realistic mode and I stalled or spun & crashed on 4 of them and completed the mission on my last go. Figured it was just because Iwas layden with bombs. So Adjusting the Elevator sensitivity will help this - Im using a stick?

Yeah on sim and realistic mode lower the elevator sensitivity to just below a point where you will stall. Try it in realistic first as you get an on screen warning that you are about to stall. When you get that message but can pull full back on the stick without actually stalling you have a good setting.

All aircraft have a different optimum elevator sensitivity setting, but the P51 has the lowest of any other aircraft imo.

If you go online and play an arcade game remember to increase elevator sensitivity to max or you will be out turned by everything.

california huh! I have a heard story of a p-51 ride (inverted) down the backside of big bear....could it be true?????
posted from yucaipa Ca.

If its loaded with 100% fuel it will fly like a dog. The real P51 did when the rear fuel tank was full. Pilot didn't go into combat with it full as it affected the CoG.

Does anyone know the default fuel loadout for the P51D arcade mode? This might be the problem with it being a dog. When the rear fuel tank was full its CoG was shifted and pilots did not enter combat in this state because of this. If its the case the default fuel load out for the P51D is 100%, that would be why it flies like a pig, until that rear tank is empty anyway.

Maybe, but check the speed at 0ft. TAS and IAS are the same there. You should still get around 380mph IAS at that height in a P51D. Remember to trim out first before trying this as you'll side slip otherwise.

As far as I noticed, the speed in the HUD are in IAS, not TAS.

a 400mph+ interceptor @ 25000ft, like P-51 gives you, in ISA conditions, a IAS of 268mph+

hell no.
in lower altitudes, the denser air increases drag and you can't go faster as in high altitudes, like above 20000ft.

The mustang handles like a 5 year old who's been force fed 8 cups of coffee...

I hate it, i actually hate it. Its really trying my 'no respawns' aproach to the single player game, although in the single player at least, it will out run anything they throw at you..

And my P51 in 'Wings of Fury' on the Commodore Amiga seemed so agile :(

i was expecting it the P51 was a brick in blazing angels

What's up with the P-51B having something like 30+ bombs in the missions where you start out by bombing 3 ships? Is that a realistic load-out for this plane? I figured they just had one bomb on each pylon (the bombs automagically reappear in the external view).

Usually their is a nice median. At high altitude, the air is thinner and can't get through the propeler as well as denser air, but in denser air their is more drag. So their is a median tghat i could calculate if i was givin the lowest speed and the highest speed and maybe some more in between.

The speed on the actual cockpit dial seems to be IAS and goes much higher then the HUD airspeed which appears to be TAS.

Anton has said it would get boring for the mainstream if you had to fly all they way back to base and re-arm and re-fuel that would take hours to do one mission. Think about it.

I suppose that makes sense, but it seems weird to take such major liberties when trying to create a realistic experience in so many other ways. I tend do think that this is just sloppy mission design and that a shorter, more difficult mission would be just as engaging. Or just give us a bomber instead of a fighter with a bomber payload. ;)

The P51b/c/d can reach and sustain around 380mph TAS a 1000ft. Read here:

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...ang/tk589.html

I do care about real performance numbers, thats all well and good. But why in the game has this (and apparently so many other) plane been nerfed?? You can post whatever numbers (nice find though) you wish, but it does not change the fact that I'm being outrun by everything....... Dive, level, climb, does not matter. This flight model is WRONG! As it stands now, the only fighting we can do is turn fighting.
Serriously, please fix this.

P.S. why was the title of my thread changed? It DID say "why did they sandbag the P-51"