Have to disagree with you crockett. I set my guns to 200yds convergence, and it's rare I don't get at least a snapshot at that range.
info,
The best advice is this: You can listen to recommendations on this plane and that plane all you want, but ultimately it all comes down to what YOU want to fly, and how YOU learn (personally, I almost never climb out of my Corsair).
It's unfair to say that certain planes are bad to learn in because they "only teach bad habits." This is NOT true. They only teach "dweeby" behavior because that's all the pilot wants to get out of it. The P-51 is a difficult aircraft to learn how to fight effectively in, so most P-51 pilots don't bother to learn, and instead spend all their time sitting on high perches and run at the slightest glimpse of a co-alt Con 5k out. Because they don't want to take a little more time and effort. Most new pilots see the four 20mm cannon and massive ammo load of the N1K2 and decide to spend all their time shooting people in the face, because they don't want to bother learning that the N1K is far more formidable than as just a HO machine (and 99% of the time, the guys who hop into a Nikki and don't do anything but HO very quickly end up spinning into the ground in pieces, because their opponent was smart enough not to play their game and reversed them, which they had no idea how to counter because they don't bother learning how to do more THAN HO).
Some guys, as crockett suggested, learn better by diving into a swarm of red and getting shot down if five seconds. However there's other resources available to new pilots as well, especially the Training Arena where you can arrange one-on-one time with a trainer, or someone who specializes in the plane you want to fly. IMO this is the better option, because you have on-hand advice on what you're doing right and wrong that unless you ALREADY know what you're looking for, just diving into a furball won't tell you.
