A couple of points to remember here:
1. Johnson's P47 "Lucky", was not what we have here. His crew had ground down the rivets, and polished the whole airframe. His mechanic had modified the boost system wategate pressures so that "Lucky" could pull 72" WG! With an overboosted hotrodded Jug, he was both faster and climbed better than a stock Jug, let alone a 190.
2. Johnson's combat almost all took place at high altitude. The Jug will "out turn" and "out climb" many planes if you are fighting at 27k! When is the last time you got in a scrap with a LW plane at that altitude in AH? Fight at high altitude and your Jug will perform alot more like Johnson reports his did.
3. The Jug is NOT a turnfighter, nor should it be. It's a high-altitude, high-speed, BEAST with lots of guns. Use it's power, dive, and zoom climb, and you can well in it.
I am a P-47 fan myself, and I also have Johnson's book. I think the P-47 is modelled pretty well here in Aces High. With the possible exception of it's WEP performance, it seems right to me. Indeed, the P-47 is a tougher competitor in AH than it seems to be in most other games. FYI, I was 69 kills for 14 deaths in the P-47D-25 last tour, that's nearly 5:1 (I'm normally not that successful in any plane). There is no vulching ackless fields in that number either, those are strictly good A2A kills. I don't do A2G, the D30 is my A2G ride and I've only got a few sorties in it. I'm also a terrible shot, I run about 5-7% gunnery, another reason I fly the Jug.
That's not too shabby for a plane that is fighting in a position far from it's optimal one... high altitude.
You are right though, a P-47 with a disadvantage versus a good pilot is likely dead meat. Guess what, any plane in the arena with a disadvantage versus a good pilot is likely dead meat! Some are better at turning the tables than others, but you'd have to be nuts to start a fight in an energy fighter from and energy disadvantage.
Keep in mind that in almost all of the fights Johnson talks about, he either starts with a huge advantage, or the enemy does something stupid. Heck, I'd wager that a good number of his kills come from Luftwobblies trying to dive away from the Jug.. obviously not a good move! And Johnson is talking about his hot-rodded Jug at high altitude, not the "average" Jug we have fighting at low altitude.
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Lephturn - Chief Trainer
A member of The Flying Pigs
http://www.flyingpigs.com "A pig is a jolly companion, Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt --
A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale, Though mountains may topple and tilt.
When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you, When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
Though you may be thrown over by Tabby and Rover, You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
You'll never go wrong with a pig!" -- Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"
