But the stengths of this plane make it alot easier to hold the alt above a furball.
No way. You are talking out some orifice other than your mouth.
Holding alt has more to do with speed than climb rate.. although it's not exclusive. Any of the mid to late 109's would be much better suited, d9... serveral others. 38 is a nice plane and the J & L are fairly quick but they have a couple of very very exploitable weaknesses.
For one, escaping a diving 38 is almost as easy as escaping a diving 109: Wait til the 38's controls start to get heavy and roll under or break in about any direction. This doesn't make for a great BnZ airplane.
Views aren't that great and in a BnZ mode, views are important.
It's a huge target.
51s yet alot faster cant handle as good as the 38
Are you high?
Look, I admit the 51 is a mediocre plane compared to other late war rides but in a BnZ mode, it greatly outclasses the 38.
No, the 38 does not handle better than a pony... No it doesnt. Unless we are talking in mid to slow speed turn. What BnZ guy is going to do that with any expectaion of success?
Here's a good tidbit: at any speed where the 38J or L does not have flaps out, the 51 turns better. Seriously. This is relevent becuase flaps, even one notch, burn E. A BnZ'er who wants to stay alive is going to horde every drop of E.
Here's another tidbit: the 51D and the 38J & L have almost identical climb rates at MA alts. in fact, at some MA alts the 51 outclimbs the 38. This is without WEP. With WEP the 38 climbs marginally... marginally better.
Here's another: the 38 accelerates only marginally better than the 51... and from 0 to 300 they are almost identical.
Zoom: I would imagine the pony is better for 2 reasons: less drag, better elevator authority to get the nose back up after a high speed pass.
Torque: a 51 pilot can make this work to his advantage too, using torque to pull him over at the top of a rope.
Other than lethality and ammo load, I don't see how the 38 is better above a fight than the pony.
so have more problems with the 1 guy who comes in at 20k
You're still high?
51 has a significant edge in evading a higher con over the 38. It's faster, has better high speed handling, and is a much smaller target.
If I'm wrong, I'd like to be corrected. AKAK? 38 sticks?
