I've gotten to the point that I carry 75% internal almost all of the time now in fighter mode. I leave the drop tank because I'd rather have the induced drag of the higher internal fuel than the parasitic drag of the drop tank. Either way you're carrying approximately the same amount of gas. I burn the wing tanks dry first, as it seems to roll better. I almost never carry the full ammo load. You get the N down below about 1/4 tank and half your ammo remaining, and it really begins to shine. Need to learn how to manage your fuel so you can maximize your on station time when you get to this state.
One thing to remember about any of the P-47's. If you have 7,000 AGL of altitude, 500 mph is only a dive away. Doesn't matter how slow you are at 7,000 feet, you can accelerate up to 500 mph in the dive. Below that you are still easily capable of 400 mph. The caveat to this is that, once you go to the deck, you're in a defensive posture until you can get clear to regain altitude. Treat that last 7,000 feet of altitude as your emergency reserve unless you have wingman backup.
I find the most important thing for me is to make sure I don't enter a fight flat-footed. By that I mean, I always ensure that my climb out will have me at my chosen altitude with enough cruise to get the ship up to speed. If you have 300-350 TAS on the plane when you get into the fight, you'll have a much easier time maintaining some energy on the plane. If you start the fight slow, you're going to be on the defensive for quite some time. Lots of times, when I'm close to the fight, I'll actually carry a faster climb speed in case I get jumped before I have enough sky below me. Ideally, you have speed and altitude in the P-47. If you don't have speed, have altitude, and if you don't have altitude, have speed. This can hold true for a large number of aircraft in the game, but for any of the P-47's it is critical. In a white-knuckler, you can't afford to make mistakes in this plane, because it doesn't have much capability to compensate for them. The Novermber will scoot, as long as you have WEP, even on the deck, so use it only when you have to.
Lastly, Wolfala is the supreme November Jug stick, so you may want to lend more credibility to his techniques than mine. He lands 12 kills at a pop whereas I manage a fraction of that.
