In the right hands the P51-D can dominate, however given the....level of skill that generally flies it - it does have quite a number of deaths, I've always viewed it as it should be perked as well as the fw190d9 should be moved to 5 eny.
Just so. The 51D is the ultimate embodiment of the "one trick pony" when it comes to "average player use". This is defined as the typical "one pass, haul ass" or "runstang" method. Thay is not to say that there aren't players who use it more adventurously, but the debate before us is one of population, not method of use.
In this regard, the D stang is rapidly approaching the same level of dominance (use wise) as the 1c corsair did when it was first introduced. This is the meat of the matter- it affects gameplay megatively because most enemy a/c you see these days are D stangs. To curtail their #'s, and improve adversarial variety, the D stang should be perked lightly (5 or 2 below the 1c, whichever is greater).