All things aside, it was a great duel for me.
Felt like 109K vs Spit XIV duels back from WB.
At start, I expected to get above the P 51D easily and dictate the fight afterwards. I knew 25% and 4 .50 cal P 51D to be really dangerous in a knifefight (read: better than G-10, all characteristics combined). However, I could not afford the luxury of taking less than 50% fuel in my G-10. There would be to much pressure for me to quickly end the fight and it would probably resulted in a mistake.
P 51D with 25% has lower wingloading than 25% fuel G-10, right ? Now take 2 .50 cals from P 51D. Put 25% more fuel in G-10. Drop 1 notch of flaps on P 51D.
What you get ?
You get the fight we had there. 2 planes very closely matched. Much like that Dora vs P51 duel from Shaw's book. Powerloading vs wingloading.
At times I felt like I was fighting a Spitfire, not a Pony. Yes, I could win the vertical, but not by a big margin. Hang could put his nose on me most times and it really surprised me. This was a warning to me from start - do not enter a turnifight with Hang's P 51. E-fight him instead. In AH those two planes come very close in a knifefight and little things make the difference. Just watch that 4th fight with endless deck flat turn. Not the brightest approach, but once we were there the first man to disengage dies.
As for merge tactics, I was surprised with it. It never happened to me in previous HTH, but I do not mind it. If Hang did not dive to the merge, the fight would be one sided indeed. Also, note that I took the same approach in fight 5.
If we were co-E (no merge diving), a single Immelmann would put me on top. However, we were obviously co-E and I needed time to make that RoC work. Putting myself in front of light P 51D and expecting rate of climb to pull me out instantly would be stupid. So I did those two spirals. They were the answer to Hang's merge tactic. The text buffer misses something I said to myself there, going something like this: "...OK, you opportunist merge diver, now I show you the DB 605
...". I shouldn't have underestimated the merge approach. It was a valid tactic, not speciffically forbidden in RoE and thus acceptable. Smart advice Hang, I wonder who gave it to you
G-10 is much better 1 on 1 plane than it is in arena. It shines in some aspects (powerloading), but terribly lacks in other important aspects (guns, high speed handling, 6 view, roll rate). IMO, it is not a good arena plane. While fighting the enemy, you get to fight your plane too. Sure you can trust it after certain time, but not as much as to other planes. In fact, caught low on the deck, I always felt safer in 190A-8 than in G-10. In A-5 I actually enjoy getting bounced low and slow
A-5 is the best plane Luftwaffe has in AH at the moment. Jack of all trades, master of none. except roll rate it is average in all other aspects. With competent pilot, however, it reminds me of well flown Spit - dangerous, with enough tricks in its sleeve to successfully defend itself.
Salute, Hangtime ! This was the best way to end my 109 carrier.
Hristo, a wannabe 190 pilot
[This message has been edited by Hristo (edited 07-04-2000).]
