I fly the p51 a lot and have yet to find a particular plane in AH that can't be beaten co-e with a little patience. With an E advantage the p51 is nearly invincible in a 1 vs 1. Basically I just try to keep speed to a maximum and always turn while climbing or diving. When you have an E advantage you can "outturn" any opponent by zooming up while at the same time rolling to place them directly in your high 6 view. By continuing to roll as you come over the top of your loop they should be directly in front of you and probably about 5k below. Repeat as neccesary.
As for the wing sheading aspect of the stang, the trick is not to roll the plane during a pull up at over about 450 mph. The p51 does seem to have a nasty habit of losing wings without warning, so I try to use rudder and chopping throttle to limit speed to about 500 mph max while in a dive.
Honestly I'd say the p51s biggest disadvantage is the fact that it must rely on E fighting to win. In the main arena you rarely find fights where you can zoom continuously without another enemy coming along and picking you off at the top of a loop. I think this is the reason for the "pick off the guys at the edge of the fight first" comments. This is good advice in any plane, but I personally just try to engage the highest con in the area by making a quick pass to get him to split-s or maybe even catch him sleeping.
I find the biggest advantages of the p51 are it's range, speed, and the ballistics of the 50 caliber. The 50 is the easiest gun to get hits with in snapshot situations, BUT you must get about 1 second of hits on a single part of the aircraft to damage it severely. Don't rely on speed to save you all the time though. Many planes, like the 109 and 190, can easily catch you with their superior acceleration before you can get up to top speed. Fortunately the p51 seems to be able to hold it's own in a turn with the 109 and 190a8. Beware of the a5 though, it can perform amazing vertical turns at a much lower minimum airspeed. It also carries a mean punch with 4 cannon and 2 MG. The F4u, P47, and Typhoon should also not be taken lightly. They all can beat you in top speed under the right circumstances. The F4u and Typhoon are incredible at low altitudes, while the P47 can stay right with a stang from about 20k on up. Diving away from a p47 is also a bad idea. Fortunately the p51, when loaded with 50% fuel or less, can hold it's own in a turn with the p47 and can easily turn with the Typhoon. I have been having a terrible time with the zeros recently. It seems they can force a HO at will, and even though you can probably kill them, they will almost always take off a wingtip, radiator, and/or the amazing paper rudder.
Another good piece of advice that is true for all E fighters is to use vertical manuvering when at all possible. When forced to turn, make sure you use 1 notch of flaps. Because of the p51s great range, I generally take a 50% fuel load and two drop tanks. If I think that a fight may be nearby, I will drop one tank immediately and climb using a single DT. (Make sure you trim out to keep from stalling when flying on 1 tank and when you release the tank.) When the p51 gets to about 1/4 tank it can turn amazingly well with a notch of flaps for about 2 turns. Beyond that, I'd say your options are to try to extend, or drop another notch of flaps and hope the other guy makes a mistake. Sometimes I find that I can catch the other guy in an all-or-nothing diving turn and snapshot at close range. Of course if you miss you will be at an E disadvantage and lower than the bogey.
Hope this helps a little.
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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS
