Remember when it was cool to fly the Pony?

[Pand]

What a sad, pathetic post you just linked Pand.. Shame on them for wanting to do that silly dogfighting stuff instead of suicide bombing hangars or picking from 25k with half a dozen people to clear their six if god forbid they aren't able to run away quickly enough.

Ehrler in game/Paul in real life. 

You apparently haven't been around over the last 2 months?

[Pand]

That post seems to be a response to this one, I guess that gorilla didn't have a banana.  
I started flying AH in 2001 as well. I really can't remember when people weren't complaining about one airplane or another.
Runstang, Spitdweeb, Luftwhiner.. Those terms go way back. I remember seeing Spitdweeb and or Spitf*g way
back in 1992 when I was in AW. In in 1997 I started flying Warbirds, I swear I saw the term Runstang there before coming here.
There has been a lot of turnover through the years. There are a lot of old guys that have left and newer guys have filled the
ranks. With it comes new ideas and attitudes on what the current crowd views as achievement. Who knows for sure. If you're
having fun and if the guys that fly for you and follow you are having fun.. There is your real success and praise.  

Amen brother!   It's all about the change in AH culture--- although I do remember spitdweeb as far back as warbirds in 1997

[Gman]

The 13th TAS back in 99-2002 or so was a dedicated P51 only squad that was pretty decent.  There was usually double digits of squad members on every evening, and always flew together in the P51 exclusively.  It was "cool" back then, that's for sure.

[Triton28]

With this post as with the one you linked, I wonder if there's really been a change or is it just percieved?  Obviously I'm still a new guy in the grand scheme of things, so I honestly have no idea.  

High school sports, college parties, and weekends in Vegas are all much cooler when looked at through the prism of time.    Is AH the same?  

[Oldman731]

I am humbly pointing out that the community 'back in the day' used to support one another for doing well and working as a team/[/b]

I suspect this is the heart of the problem.  The "teams" were smaller, and 1 v 1 skills were more admired, than they are today.

In AW FR, for example, people thought the 51 was a difficult plane to fly well.  And I can't remember any hero worship that stemmed from base taking, even in AH where it was a deliberate focus of the game.

- oldman

[Squire]

Remember when it was cool to fly the Pony?

No.

[Ripley]

Being the tool of choice for horde monkeys and other lazy people, I've grown a dislike for it simply because it is "too easy".  About the only time I take it is when I'm on a long range escort mission.

here we go again.

the Pony is not "Too easy". the only easy thing about flying a pony is living if you are timid and running away, and that doesnt even work when you have other certain and popular planes behind you. You dont see 2 week newbs landing 4-5-6 kills in the pony because it (believe it or not (hah...)) even takes a little bit of skill to hit a maneuvering target with enough 50 cal rounds to take a wing off while zooming by at 500 mph. If that happens to you then you should be ashamed of yourself for not evading it. Any newb who gets slow with the pony with any pilot with any skill whatsoever will die. The only reason you make this judgement is because a good 30 percent of the AH population (im sure that is an inflated number) fly the Pony.  

Actually FIGHTING the pony takes skill and a good knowledge of ACM, as most of the other types of planes you will meet in the MA will out turn you and will hold their E better, and regain it faster when it's lost. Ask any of the good Pony Pilots (Pand or Mir for example) and they will probably tell you something similar.

You want easy, go fly the spit. I dare someone to argue the Pony being easier than the Spit 16 (waits for incoming flames). Maybe I should start the "Remember when it was cool to fly the Spitty?" thread 

[tunnelrat]

I've been flying mainly the A6M3, the P-47M, Ki-84 and the Bf109K-4 lately... and I will say, as Ripley stated, the P-51 (I only fly the Bravo in Fighter mode anyway) is a LOT more of a challenge to "fight" in than any of the three above... that's just my personal experience... since I have started flying the above planes, my hit % has sky rocketed, and my K/D is a lot better than it has been (though it is still trash).

I do have trouble finding fights, however, and I don't mean this b/s 1v1 with no one jumping in stuff... that's not what the MA is about unless you get lucky.  (Did get my lunch money taken by Dodger in his C.202 vs my K4... humbling, but good fight as usual... 1v1 the other night).

The P-51B is a damn tough plane to get kills in... yeah I am sure you can BnZ and run in it, that's just not my bag.  I stick around too long, fight the other planes fight, and I lose.  My hat's off to the guys with the skill and discipline to do well in it.  Not to disparage those who actually FIGHT in the P-51D...  which there are several that come to mind, like the 4th FG Debden...  the extra oompf at lower alt, and the 50% increase in firepower makes a big difference.

Those that disparage all pony drivers, and just lump them all together with the one-way-ticket auger-bombers are extremely sore losers.  I've seen it time and time again, someone gets beat in a rolling scissors, isn't paying attention, or is just plain outflown...  and it's "get a real plane" or something to that effect.   

I've killed as many Pony-D's this tour as any Pony-D has killed me in any ride.  If someone wants to take an ENY 5 ride up that has one thing going for it, more power to them.   

[Randy1]

The only real advantage a mustang has is speed and it can still be beat.  It is easily damaged.  It has no cannons in AH.  It does have world class view. 

Not sure why people beat up mustang'ers because they use the speed advantage to reposition.  I have never heard the vox say "Look at that guy in the spit turn to escape a fight.  What a whoss."  or "Can you believe that guy is using full throttle to go straight up in his K4 to run from the fight."

What about the 262, they run a lot.

Not sure i remember a B29 bombing at 5000 feet.

[tunnelrat]

What about the 262, they run a lot.

The best is when you take a look at all the "pro-fight" (read: Anti-P51) players who fly the undisputed pick-and-run champion of the game: The Deuce.

But then, apparently, it's okay.

[Shifty]

No Tony, you cannot have a pony.

[Nathan60]

I fly the pony from time to time, thusly the Pony is still cool from time to time.

[Lusche]

Not sure i remember a B29 bombing at 5000 feet.

I have two B-29 kills in a King Tiger  

[Lusche]

Not sure why people beat up mustang'ers because they use the speed advantage to reposition.  I have never heard the vox say "Look at that guy in the spit turn to escape a fight." 

While I do agree with your standpoint to some extend, there is a reason you do not see the sentence above: A spit can not "turn to escape a fight". It can only turn to fight. Escaping is by definition outrunning your opponents.

[Guppy35]

The essential point is being missed.  It's still cool to fly a 51.

Where it's gotten such a bad name is in the way so many players employ it.  If you are in a knife fight on the deck with a guy and in the middle of it a 51 blows through and picks you, it's hard to be impressed.  But that applies to any of that kind of bird.

On the other hand when you run into a guy who has learned how to knife fight in a 51 it's easy to be impressed with that Mustang driver who has learned how to really fly it.

Same applies to D9 drivers.  Rarely to you find one that fights, but when you do you take notice.  Last night was a good example of that for me.  There were three or four in a crowd at a base I was trying to help defend.  It took no time at all to realize that three of them were run in at light speed, face shoot and run out.  It was that 4 th one that stood out though as he was bending it and outflying planes that the other three D9 drivers would have died to if they'd actually fought.

It made for some fun fights trying to stay with him.  Alas I got picked every time and kills he'd earned went to folks who hadn't done the work.

That's the nature of the MA of course.  In the end it's the style of flying by the majority of 51 pilots that have created the image because they've never taken the time to learn to be more than "one trick Ponies".