tunnelrat,
Odd, I've never seen a complaint about the P-51B. They are very rare. Last one I recall seeing was about two or three years ago when it dove on my Spitfire Mk XIV. I was pretty surprised how fast the Spitfire Mk XIV was able to reverse the energy situation and kill the P-51B.
As to your point, well, obviously heavy, poor turning aircraft don't do as well in a slow furball, but there are methods to fight in which things like the Fw190, P-47, P-51, Mosquito and Typhoon can be used aggressively without long stretches of running. I don't think anybody is suggesting the Me410s should get into slow, horizontal turn fights with A6M5s.
The complaints about the 51B ARE generally directed at one person hahahahaha....
But, honestly, aside from the gun package and obviously the ordnance options, the Bravo is superior to the Delta in almost all ways.
I am right on-board with those that decry the
behavior of some pilots, who tend to fly 51Ds, 190D9s, or (more rarely) 109K4s... they dive in, either miss/collide/get lucky, and then haul bellybutton a sector away... OR if you catch them and dive on THEM they will vector on the nearest target and try to get one more kill before you get them.
The fact of the matter is, when someone is
fighting intelligently in a 51 (regardless of mark) they will be BnZing... which means that TnB planes have to use a little more patience and strategy to kill one.
It is also conducive to attacking an already engaged opponent, since everyone in the MA dogpiles any enemy con they see, and are therefore pretty much always engaged. Of course, the term "picking" apparently means "anything that isn't a HO" if there are more than 2 planes in the fight.
And while you and I
get that telling a Mossie to turn fight a Zero or he isn't "fighting" is absurd, you'd be surprised how many people appear to subscribe to the "Fly a turner, or die in your BnZ plane with cartoon honor!"
