What makes the P-51D so great at shooting down people

[warmax12]

im realy curious because when ever i use it i cant kill anything with it and when i see other people use it its a monster i mean it doesnt even have any cannon rounds any advice?

[infowars]

Well I'm fairly new to this game so i wouldn't take my opinion too seriously.  What I think and is the reason why I still use it is because of usage in general. 

I have stayed in that plane pretty the whole time mainly because of nostalgic reasons and I have learned to make it work.  I am seeing my kill rate increase everyday I use it.  I am even starting to land kills. 

So basically I think if you fly any plane long enough you'll eventually learn to make it work.

[Obie303]

Keep it fast.  It's great for BnZ attacks.  I have the convergence set at 300 yds.

[Steve]

Well, the 6 .50 is really a pretty nice gun package as far as ballistics go.  Lethality wise it's average but plenty adequate. What's your convergence set at? Are you hitting at all or just not getting kill shots? Have you spent time in other planes?  

The 51 is not a great plane to start in for a couple of reasons.

One important reason, IMHO, is that many new people tend to rely on the 51's fairly fast speed and they don't get proficient in ACM. This prevents them from getting the most out of the game.  YMMV.


Answer the above questions and it will help folks steer you in the right direction

[uberslet]

The reason i dont think the P51's .50 are really very good is because when some people think p51 they think "uber". its not, and for me when i fly it i think "Uber" so the .50's dont seem as powerful as say an F4u or P40E.

[Saurdaukar]

im realy curious because when ever i use it i cant kill anything with it and when i see other people use it its a monster i mean it doesnt even have any cannon rounds any advice?

If you are new, I agree with Steve.  Not the greatest plane to start out in.  Everyone has their own opinion but I usually recommend the Spit IX for the first few tours.  Its fast enough, turns well, decent guns and wont create as many bad habits as the later spits, La7 or Niki.

That said, and since Im momentarily uninterested in reading the report in front of me, Ill tell you what I think. 

Im pretty far from an expert virtual 51 driver (paging Demon) but I think its advantages in energy retention due to 'just right' weight and low drag make it more suited to the E-fighter role than the BnZ role, which limits options and doesnt fully utilize the advantages of the air frame.

Its rate of climb is above average, the gun package is good and the flaps are useful at high speeds.  It can scrub off speed relatively well and it can dive very well.  The only thing the 51 is not really suited for is low speed stall fighting or low speed sustained turns which, if youre new to the game, is probably how youre trying to use it.  The wing design doesnt like it and acceleration is somewhat sub-par.  If youre caught low and slow, youre pretty much cooked.

Try fighting in the vertical (as opposed to flat turns parallel to the ground).  Diving creates speed quickly and the zoom climb after is assisted by that 'just right' weight.  You can keep this up for sustained periods, with very little energy loss when compared to most other A/C, so long as you rely on inertia, instead of engine power, on the upswing.

Its a great A/C with a generally annoying reputation because its misused by greenhorns, not to get into a fight, but to avoid one.

[Zazen13]

One factor people tend to ignore, but I find as a shootist, of tantamount importance, is nose-low deflection view. As SkatSr showed me the other night, great nose-low deflection view can turn an otherwise rather average LW plane like the P51D into a shootist's wet dream.

For those who don't know, nose-low deflection view is the distance between the bore-sight and the visual obstruction of the engine cowling. The greater the distance between the two the higher the deflection shot you can hit without them being "blind". In real life the P51D became a pilot favorite for this very reason, its visibility dramatically increased over earlier versions with the addition of the bubble or teardrop canopy.

[Dichotomy]

Saurdaukar and Steve are spot on.
 

[SlapShot]

The reason i dont think the P51's .50 are really very good is because when some people think p51 they think "uber". its not, and for me when i fly it i think "Uber" so the .50's dont seem as powerful as say an F4u or P40E.

Any plane that is equipped with M2 .50 cals, in Aces High, uses the exact same M2 .50 cal gun ... you may think that one is more powerful than another, but they really aren't.

[Badboy]

im realy curious because when ever i use it i cant kill anything with it and when i see other people use it its a monster i mean it doesnt even have any cannon rounds any advice?

Yep, and what others have told you explains why the P-51 is good, in the hands of some pilots, very good!

But what really makes it great is a combination of two other factors, the same factors that made it great in WWII.

The first is survivability! The P-51 is fast, and can extract you from situations that many other aircraft can't. For example, if you are in a fight and other enemy aircraft turn up, you can disengage, drag chasers away from the crowd and resume when it is 1v1 again. Or, if you are in a fight and begin to lose position, say the enemy aircraft is entering the control position, you can disengage, extend and re-engage from a neutral position. In that way you can even out maneuver Zekes by turning with them at high speed where your turn rate and radius will match theirs, and as soon as your speed drops, enter the "Disengage, extend, reverse, re-engage" cycle. It may sound boring, and if you are 1v1 with a better turning aircraft (and that includes most of them) it can become protracted, and that is where the second factor I mentioned comes in.

In real air combat it is very rare for anyone to fly as a single ship, that was a lesson learned very early in WWI. With a wingman, the strengths of the P-51 come into their own, and there is a synergy between that and the survivability factor I mentioned earlier. It is as if the qualities of the P-51 were designed with wingman tactics in mind. That also explains why most real fighters pilots in WWII on both sides wanted aircraft that had similar qualities to the P-51.

When the P-51 is flown in a two ship with a lead and wingman who know and understand wingman tactics and who have good communications and situational awareness the outcome can be stunning. Two P-51s can work enemy groups of up to 6 (that's 3-1 odds) superior aircraft and kill them all and if the situation becomes dangerous they can extend and use a rolling retreat. Again, if two P-51s are extending using the rolling retreat and being chased by LA7's, Spitfires, and other P-51s all acting as individuals, they can kill them all.

It is about team work and the synergy between wing tactics and the attributes and qualities of the P-51, each one on its own can make it good, when used together something almost magical happens... it becomes great!!

Unfortunately, if you don't take advantage of either factor, the P-51 can leave you wondering why it had the reputation it did. Now you know why.

Badboy

[Masherbrum]

The reason i dont think the P51's .50 are really very good is because when some people think p51 they think "uber". its not, and for me when i fly it i think "Uber" so the .50's dont seem as powerful as say an F4u or P40E.

 

[Spatula]

im realy curious because when ever i use it i cant kill anything with it and when i see other people use it its a monster i mean it doesnt even have any cannon rounds any advice?

You don't need cannons. You just need to know how to use 50cals properly. With cannons, you can afford to spray em around a bit and you can rely more on single-hits doing critical damage. With 50cals, you get better ballistics and a higher rate of fire, but critically, you need to 'aim' them at and hold them on the target and get them to hit at or around convergence. Think of it as a fire hose - you have to aim it and hold it on a hot spot and soak each hot spot, rather than just spraying it all over the place. Get those 50cals to 'soak' a spot on your target even for 1/2 a second, and there will be no more target - I assure you.

The 51 IS a monster IF it is used correctly, and its a victim if not. Odds are the people you see making it a 'monster' are using it differently to the way you are.
Here's a write up i did a while back on getting the best from the mustang (as i see it):
http://www.my2cents.co.nz/AKUAG/TheVault_Files/P51Guide.aspx

[DaveJ]

I've found that there are very few good Pony pilots in this game, excluding the likes of SkatSr, Steve and others of course.

If you can avoid the BnZ attacks and get them low and slow you are golden. Ponies are notorious for their great BnZing but if you can get one Co-alt and turning, they are pretty much dead.

[Zazen13]

I've found that there are very few good Pony pilots in this game, excluding the likes of SkatSr, Steve and others of course.

If you can avoid the BnZ attacks and get them low and slow you are golden. Ponies are notorious for their great BnZing but if you can get one Co-alt and turning, they are pretty much dead.

As Badboy pointed out the P51 was perhaps the first fighter developed specifically with mutual support in mind. They were not designed to individually turnfight with a single opponent and certainly not the unrealistically vast array of fighters we have in AH, a lot of which have a large maneuverability and acceleration advantage. Some in AH have the familiarity and skill with them to pull that off in a lot of situations. But, it's fair to say that if you fly any aircraft completely out of context with its intended design concept you're going to struggle with success, the pony is no exception.

[Masherbrum]

I've found that there are very few good Pony pilots in this game, excluding the likes of SkatSr, Steve and others of course.

If you can avoid the BnZ attacks and get them low and slow you are golden. Ponies are notorious for their great BnZing but if you can get one Co-alt and turning, they are pretty much dead.

I could list almost 150 that are MORE THAN ADEQUATE in the Pony.   You named 2 so far.