Originally posted by BaneX:
If you fly bishop look for some of the guys from 13th TAS and try watching them. We fly 51 exclusively and many have become extremely good with it.
Bane
Yup..what Bane and the others have said. If you are Bish, Hangtime and Soulyss are damned good P51 sticks and could show you a trick or two. You prolly arent a Nit since you whould have been thrown out of the country by the LW contingent by now for even speaking the name Mustang in the arena. If you are Rook, feel free to hook up with SkyViper and myself some nights.
I USUALLY try to follow the advice you've seen above but I find that I just can't resist turning a bit in the 51. Here are some of my tips:
- Having an alt advantage is not necessarily necessary. Sometimes if I see a 10K furball, I will come in at 8K with a good head of steam (250+) and see if I can get a shot on someone. If not, I go into a zoom while looking for possible danger and watch the furball below scoping out the next target.
- Mustang compresses around 500. When bouncing lower bandits, chop throttle as you dive and try to maintain a speed of 400-500 during your bounce. Add or reduce throttle as necessary. If you compress, chop throttle and use elevator up trim to get out of the dive.
- Throttle control is MANDATORY since you want to turn your plane at its best corner speed (dunno what this is in the 51...again its done by feel for me...its prolly around 250). When dogfighting, and trying to follow a break (if you dare) you may need to reduce your throttle so your turn radius is not too much bigger than that of your opponent. If it is, and you turn outside of your opponent, you leave the door open for a reversal via scissors. I find myself, varying throttle during the initial stages of the fight and then once my speed falls below 250, its firewalled.
- Mustang has a deceptive zoom. Because it holds E so well, you can regain alot of the alt you lost on a dive. Use this to rope opponents. If you see a lower opponent climbing up to you, go into a climb and watch their distance. Once it starts increasing, click 1 notch flaps and loop over on them. Often you can catch an unaware bogie as hes floundering in a stall below you.
- Use flaps but dont overdo it. Basically I use it if Im trying to come over the top of a loop and the stall horn is blaring or if Im trying to eek out the last bit of lift from my wings while lining up the shot. I cant tell you what speed I use them because I dont really look at at my speed....I use the sound of the wind rushing over the cockpit and the feeling of the plane as it approaches the stall.
Tactics against planes:
Zeke, Spits, Macchis, 109s (G2, G6 and F) and Niks...dont let yourself get slow against these planes and strive for a position of E superiority. If they start out higher than you, disengage and come back later with alt/speed. If they are lower than you, try to set up a shallow dive on their six and if they break before you are in guns range, use high yoyos to follow their break. Dive back down as soon as they finish their break. If defensive against them dont worry...begin a dive to gain speed to disengage. They are MUCH slower than you.
Yaks and La5s....do not turn with them unless you have an E advantage. Their turn rates are a little better than yours and if not careful they can quickly turn the tables on you. If you lose the advantage follow the same instructions as for the spits, zekes etc...if you have no alt to convert, you can almost kiss your sorry bellybutton goodbye
109G10....my biggest problem to date. Try to get the 109G10 into a high speed fight. It compresses at about 400, about 100mph earlier than the 51. You have a pretty even (maybe slightly better?) turn rate than the G10. The problem is tho once you get onto the tail of a G10, once they kick in the WEP, the performance of the G10 becomes phenomenal. They will most likely begin to try to rope you. Once you see the G10 begin to climb in a co-E engagement, flip over and try to disengage. Even with WEP you are slightly faster once you reach full speed but the initial accelleration of the G10 is better than your 51 so dont get too low while facing a G10 unless you KNOW you are going to get a kill or have enough speed to gain separation after your pass.
F4Us, P47s, 190s and Tiffys...kill with impunity. On co-E nose to nose merges, begin an easy barrell roll to avoid the HO. Transition into a low G loop while watching what the enemy is doing. Many times they will have had to dive to get HO shot and you can then immelman onto their six. None of these planes can turn better than you (with exception of 190A5) so feel free to turn with them as needed using no more than 1 notch of flaps if you get slow. Your biggest threat is the HO or front quarter shot from an F4U-1C or a Tiffy so if you find yourself with a lower plane looping over back towards you as you dive on their six, jink a bit to get out of any shot opportunity they may have. As they turn hard for these maneuvers they are burning alot of E giving you the ability to more easily kill them in another couple turns...as long as they dont get a shot in
-Finally, if you want to stay alive, keep a lookout for the scissors. Planes with a good roll can quickly turn the tables and when the 51 is fast, it doesnt have the roll rate to counter this move. If you see a lower F4 or 190 dive for the deck as you are diving on it and then begin a break turn in one direction or another, pull off and climb while watching what that other plane is doing. Wait for them to finish their break and then roll back into them. Once they get low on the deck and begin to slow down, THEN you can turn with them.
Here are my biggest downfalls:
- Getting suckered into a turn fite with a 109G10 which then kicks in WEP to rope me.
- Getting caught in a scissors with a Chog or 190
- Spending too much time in a low furball...although Im not in any danger from the planes already in it, once I turn a bit, I get slow making it real easy for higher planes to kill me. This is an SA issue
-Ding
[This message has been edited by Dingy (edited 12-07-2000).]
