P-51B

[iron650]

Yes, I am one of the few to fly the Pony B. No I will never BnZ repeatedly. I instead prefer to come down and engage the enemy from san altitude advantage and try to outplay them. Anyone have good tips defensively and offensively?

[skorpion]

Yes, I am one of the few to fly the Pony B. No I will never BnZ repeatedly. I instead prefer to come down and engage the enemy from san altitude advantage and try to outplay them. Anyone have good tips defensively and offensively?

defencivly-dont get sucked into a long turn-fight. that will kill your E and youll be an easy target once youve shot down your enemy, but what do i know? i hardly fly it

[iron650]

I apparently chased down an I-16 in a turnfight. (Oh how I wish I had a film.) And in an earlier fight I took out a Spit (somehow it happened to be Midway in his SpitIX) in scissors and found a low I-16.

[Krusty]

Well there's a difference between out turning and out angling somebody. If you're in a dedicated flat turn fight you're dead against 90% of the fighters in this game. The P-51 has a really awful turn radius.

However, if you have speed and E to play with you can bleed it off and pull some sharp angles for a couple seconds. Just long enough to get kills, sometimes.

Defensively? Don't get too slow. Unless you are absolutely sure nobody is around within 5 minutes' range don't get slow! If you wallow you're a sitting duck. Now, if you slow down to manuver but you stay above a certain speed, you'll be much better off. I'm totally SWAGing it here but I'd say maybe 200mph should be your danger zone, and don't go below 150. You CAN but your performance will suffer. Stick for an angles shot, and if you have to don't be afraid to use your main strength and disengage. Dive away, use your top speed to get out of the bad situation.

The big problem I'd forsee is getting stuck in the mentality that you HAVE to stick it out and fight in a losing situation. Break that mentality and you can disengage at will. Then re-engage once you have separation, E, alt, speed, whatever you were lacking before.

I'm a casual fan of the pony B as well. I like it for the challege of 4 guns. I used to like it because it wouldn't spin out nearly as much as the D in tight turns, but that rarely happens in recent versions of this game. In AH1 it was the main reason to take the razorback jug or pony over the bubbletops.

[M0nkey_Man]

Well there's a difference between out turning and out angling somebody. If you're in a dedicated flat turn fight you're dead against 90% of the fighters in this game. The P-51 has a really awful turn radius.

However, if you have speed and E to play with you can bleed it off and pull some sharp angles for a couple seconds. Just long enough to get kills, sometimes.

Defensively? Don't get too slow. Unless you are absolutely sure nobody is around within 5 minutes' range don't get slow! If you wallow you're a sitting duck. Now, if you slow down to manuver but you stay above a certain speed, you'll be much better off. I'm totally SWAGing it here but I'd say maybe 200mph should be your danger zone, and don't go below 150. You CAN but your performance will suffer. Stick for an angles shot, and if you have to don't be afraid to use your main strength and disengage. Dive away, use your top speed to get out of the bad situation.

The big problem I'd forsee is getting stuck in the mentality that you HAVE to stick it out and fight in a losing situation. Break that mentality and you can disengage at will. Then re-engage once you have separation, E, alt, speed, whatever you were lacking before.

I'm a casual fan of the pony B as well. I like it for the challege of 4 guns. I used to like it because it wouldn't spin out nearly as much as the D in tight turns, but that rarely happens in recent versions of this game. In AH1 it was the main reason to take the razorback jug or pony over the bubbletops.

thats the main reason i fly it, I suck in the D but im suddenly better in the B its weird lol

[1pLUs44]

You can use the Pony's E to your advantage very well. Especially if you get into a rolling scissors with the enemy at any alt up to and above 10k. That's where I used to get many of my Pony kills. When I used to play a lot, I could take on spits and win almost every time using that, but also adjusting my throttle and flaps a LOT. I haven't flown in so long that I'm probably no good anymore, but one day when I get the time, I'ill get back into the game. 

[Noir]

try to stay over 200mph...the P51 acceleration is crap at low speeds, but pretty decent between 250mph and 350mph, and once slow you won't be able to get away from anyone. If you have to avoid someone, try to use you ailerons and as few as possible of your elevators so you don't bleed too much E, and put yourself in a better position for a reversal/runaway

[321BAR]

The P51 Bravo is a beautiful aircraft iron. meet up with the 20th in the MA's sometime and we'll show you some stuff about it. Although most of the 20th are P38 enthusiasts about half of the 38 enthusiasts love the 51 too

(gotta love a RL squadron that flew both right? )

[iron650]

Defensively, I break turn when least expected then turn to the enemy that couldn't follow the turn. Most of the time it ends up in the scissors which I tend to be good at. But, then I also get into somewhat intense dogfights.

[Phoenix 7]

I too enjoy the B model even more so than the D. Its seems to have more character, and it feels nice to get a kill in an "outdated" aircraft. Is it also just me or does it turn sharper than the D?

[BnZs]

I too enjoy the B model even more so than the D. Its seems to have more character, and it feels nice to get a kill in an "outdated" aircraft. Is it also just me or does it turn sharper than the D?

It's just you....

Actually, its marginally lighter than the D, mostly because it lacks two extra .50s and ammo. But realistically, for ever 1 time you get out-turned by a B in the D, there will be 3 times when a pinged bandit would have been dead with two more guns.

[BnZs]

A P-51D with 4 guns, NO fuel, and NO ammo weighs 7,882 pounds.

A P-51B in the same state weighs 7,838 pounds.

Note that P-51D with 4 guns has a much longer clip than the B with the same load-out.

[iron650]

It's just how it feels to fly a B but not D. The B just feels so nice and feels a little more like the P-51's stories of maneuverability.

[R 105]

 I do a lot of ords porking and I like the p-51D for that. I can kill all four ords on a large field with the D Pony and just 2 500lbs bombs & the guns and fly away. If ENY don't let me have the D model then my next choice is the B Pony. It has speed and great range like the D. For all around good planes the P-51s are my choice. Both planes however seem to operate at the low end of the scale here in AH. I want the P-51s I saw on Dog Fight lol.

[iron650]

I do a lot of ords porking and I like the p-51D for that. I can kill all four ords on a large field with the D Pony and just 2 500lbs bombs & the guns and fly away. If ENY don't let me have the D model then my next choice is the B Pony. It has speed and great range like the D. For all around good planes the P-51s are my choice. Both planes however seem to operate at the low end of the scale here in AH. I want the P-51s I saw on Dog Fight lol.

I see I'm not alone. Anyway, I seem to be bad at defensive maneuvers in one. Any tips?