Maybe it's because I rarely fly during 'US Prime Time', but I have to say, I just don't see the timidity you guys are talking about.
In fact, EVERY time I up a plane, of any sort, somebody tries to shoot me down.( check my stats...you'll see they quite often succeed in doing exactly that too

)
Sure, p51s still run away as soon as they lose any initial advantage they had, but that's to be expected, they'd be stupid not to.
Anyway, just my point of view, but from what I'm seeing, the red guys are as keen to fight today as they were two plus years ago.
Blue