The 38 has a slow learning curve, if you're not willing to take a tour to figure it out don't expect it to hold up against other fighters (such as la7 and zeke) with such obvious strengths that any newbie can land kills occasionally.
109s can do alright in a rolling scissors, but I almost never get beat by em. The first few seconds they pull an incredible turn but once the 38 gets its speed down and pops flaps it usually gets angles.
SpitV is dangerous, but high turn rate corrosponds with low speeds. If you pick a good merge for the situation the only spitV that should be a threat is one with alt (thats true for any plane, really). Go in for a merge and if the spit gets around on you so fast you don't know whats going on just go into a roaping maneuver. The 38 has something on every plane, on the spitV its speed and vertical stalls.
Raise your head a little in the 38s cockpit to help with tracking targets at high anles.
Remember when you hear people say the 38 has some advantage on every plane that doesn't mean it has something in every situation. Knowing how to approach a fight in a 38 is very important, as with any of the slower E-fighters.
As for compression, when do you really need to be going more then 450 tas? If your style of BnZ is to build up a massive surplus of energy so nobody can touch you then you've got a lot to learn before you worry about the 38. BnZ in a 38 is a matter of having a little energy and knowing how to keep it, taking gun passes around 400 ias. This is preferable for roaping maneuvers as its easy to spot that a pony has tremendous E, but the slow 38 will take so long to stall that it doesnt matter if you can catch him, if you can't shoot him your going nose down first.
Whoever it was that was bad-mouthing the jug needs to try one before writing it off. P-47 has an incredible turn rate, holds E pretty well, and 8 50's can kill anything fast. The only trick is to pop combat flaps and turn nose down.
-pellik
