Yah know.. I find myself on the opposite side of the fence from most folks on the two pony variants.. and I think the B model just plain sucks hind tit to the D in virtually every catagory.
The D for me turns better, high or low. The D for me accels and dives better.. high or low. The D climbs better. The D has a better gun package, better vis and has a good ords package.
In short, there is nothing a B does that the D does not do better.
IN MY OPINION.
Now, I've spent some more time in the B in the CT, hoping it would 'grow' on me like the F6F did.. no soap. Found it has a more pronounced and sudden stall than the D.. she don't 'talk' to me like the D does. She feels 'heavy', less nimble at low low stall fighting speeds. Maybe it has a slower roll, and it surely has a heavy feel to her till she gets up above 300ias... even then she's more sluggish in all manuvers than a D. She just can't climb as well as the D either. She's left me feeling like she's another airplane entirely.. aside from the flaps functioning at the same speed as the D it does nothing else like it or nearly as well.. and it's 'e' retention is lousy compared to the D... again, that's MY opinion...
I have no testing to back this up, no exhaustive documentation on the two planes performance.. it's all 'feel'.. and thats the WORST evaluation technique to base a negative judgement on.. but there it is. I guess, in a nutshell, the B does not give me the confidence the D does.
Historicly speaking, the B should have better accel, better vis down forward and to the rear (malcom hood), should be lighter to the touch, more competent than the 'D' in a stall fight, be better than the D down low and have at least as good a zoom climb and have that snappy 'e' feel the D exhibits at speed. Sadly, it just ain't the plane i figured it shoulda been..
The AH 'B' was my biggest dissapointment.. it just ain't what I'd hoped it would be.. IN MY OPINION!
(zips up flame suit)
