51 B or D is a great escape plane. Fly it that way, always leave yourself a way out and you'll enjoy the 51. (rule #1)
Be patient! Its greatest strength is its speed. A Spit can out corner you but most Spit pilots will just try to turnfight. The 51 can turn at very high speeds frustrating the Spit pilot to no end.
About the only thing that can accelerate faster in a dive is a Thuderbolt, if the P-47 has enough altitude. 38 pilots are cocky and think they can fight uphill. While the 38 can hang on its props, the 51 retains more maneuverability at slow speeds.
Fw 190 burns massive amounts of Energy in turns, get him to make a tight turn or two before getting serious about attacking him.
Somebody told the 109 pilots that they can kill a 51 by "tearing up the sky". Let them, they run out of E with all that wild turning. Then jump them as they try to get away.
Strictly Boom and Zoom the Japanese planes. Though they turn great, they are under powered. And like the 109, they trend toward compessability around 400 knots IAS.
The Typhoon/Tempest are at thier strongest in a downward fight. Get on top of them and stay there. The second you get lower than them you are toast. They, thankfully, don't climb well.
The same goes for the Blue Planes. F4u and F6f were made to fight the Japanese planes. At Moderate to high speeds, they will match the 51 move for move.
51 vs 51, the pilot who knows the 51 best will always win. My hat is off to the few that do fly it well.
For me, I feel the 51 gets very sluggish at 15k feet through to over 19k. I like bottom feeding with it. But keep rule #1 in mind.
The way you escape is to look for the enemy to nearly Head On you and begin your extend out at that point. Don't look back and definitely don't turn back. Get the WAY the heck outa Dodge before contemplating any turn back.
Afterall, any good pilot can defeat any other good pilot's mistakes.
I ought to know! I make quite a few!
BTW, When I don't, I'm probably the 51 you're cussing as I gallop away!:aok
Enjoy.