hang.. I believe that everything in your initial post is pretty much true. i have no problem with your assesment of the 51 so far as it goes but.....
You sidestep the real issue. The "problem" with the P51 is not that several other late war planes will give it a good fight (flight) if flown properly.... The problem is that it doesn't belong in the same arena (or area of the arena) as the early and mid war planes. this will only become more obvious as more and more early war planes are ineffectively introduced.
Another minor problem, but related to the main problem, is that the plane is boring. It flies, has to fly, in a completely different manner than the early and mid war planes. It is either not even in the same sim or, when it is, it is simply annoying to said ac. It is by no means alone in this.. the D9 and G10, lag and -4, tempest etc.. all fall into this category. You simply can't expect people to respect your skills when patience is the main one. Never turn, never really engage unless it is foolproof.. This makes for a seperatism in the arena.
As for the fragility... I shoot with fifties.. I kill a lot of different planes. 51's are pretty tough especially for a water cooled ac but... the most bogus are all the LW planes and the zeke. they are laughably tough. LW planes were fuel injected and fire traps. they were small with all their vitals in a very compact package... fifty API penetrates and should be very deadly against LW planes. Zekes lose fuel easily but it is extremely hard to get a kill on one with fifties. Spits are laughably fragile.. by far the easiest plane for me to knock down. Niks seem tougher than both hogs and hellcats.
lazs
