From Drbingo@cris.com Fri Sep 8 11:08 EET 1995 Received: from deathstar.cris.com by cc.jyu.fi with SMTP id AA28658 (5.67a/IDA-1.4.4 for ap); Fri, 8 Sep 1995 11:07:55 +0300 Received: from voyager.cris.com by deathstar.cris.com [1-800-745-CRIS (voice)] Return-Path: Errors-To: Drbingo@cris.com Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 04:04:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Bingo To: Patrick Aalto Subject: Re: Zeke Pilots In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 31507 Status: RO On Thu, 7 Sep 1995, Patrick Aalto wrote: > So, I was wondering, any chance you let me know of some tips about > how to eat those Zekes? :-) Sure :) Here's a text file I wrote after flying the P51 extensively in Air Warrior for some years. It's equally applicable to CK, although the planes aren't modelled completely the same...but CK has a ways to go with their plane modelling. The Mustang seems to handle remarkably similar between AW and CK. Bingo's Pony Tips ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Congratulations on your decision to download this file! My intentions on writing this "how to" file on flying the P51D Mustang are to try and pass on some knowledge that I have learned about flying, imho, the most survivable aircraft in Air Warrior. "Why?" you may ask, would someone give up information that could potentially nullify any advantage over someone who has read their "book". Well, my motivations are to try to ease the learning curve that flyers new to the 51 may encounter, and thus hopefully show them that there _is_ light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, you may say, "It's just an energy fighter. Make sure you always have the altitude advantage.", but it's not always as simple as that. A good opponent will take that potential energy slowly away from you and try to get you to engage in a fight more on their terms. Therefor, the objective is to destroy your opponent's plane before you arrive at a co-energy level. Sounds simple hey? Fencer's Word ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The P51D cannot out turn a Spit MkIX. The P51D doesn't have the cannon of a FW190A8. The P51D doesn't have the durability of a P47D. The P51D doesn't have the twin engines of the P38L. Lastly the P51D is neither big or blue. What the P51D has is the finest airframe and engine combination in World War II. The P51D cannot out turn a spit, but it can fly faster and longer than the Spitfire. The P51D doesn't have the 4 20mm cannon inflicted upon the Focke Wulf, yet it wasn't designed to kill bombers but to kill fighters! Six .50 caliber machine guns can ruin anyone's day. So the P38 has two engines. Big whoopie, the P51 had one allison and it was such a poor engine you need two to be able to get above 10,000 feet. Sure the P38 can turn real well and is one fine fighter in its own right, but it sure is a big target. You bet the P51 is neither big or blue. Its colors covered every part of the rainbow, besides its wings do not fold up. (What a silly notion in a plane) If you want a plane that can get you out of trouble as quickly as you get into it the P51D Mustang is that plane. If you want a plane that can perform from the deck to 41,000 feet, the P51D Mustang is that plane. Back in the old days the P51D was a joke plane. Hardly anyone flew it. Those that did fell into two categories, dweebs flying for the first time and FENCER. Since that time alot of things have changed. First of all I made a trip to Dayton Ohio, home of the United States Air Force Museum and archives. The P-51D we have today is based 100% on test pilot reports by North American Aviation Inc., Inglewood California. The date of the test was February 6, 1946 and it is report number NA-48-130. This was the most amazing find at the museum. We did get data for every enemy plane and all Air Force planes but no navy planes. Now this data enabled Kesmai to accurately model the P-51D Mustang. Still few people wanted anything to do with the Mustang. The WarHawks of Bland flew it, but that was because they had someone prodding them into it. The plane was simply not for the furballer or the new pilot of Air Warrior. One of the weirdest things anyone ever said about my P-51D piloting occurred at this time. I sent the Missionary Squadron of Aland some films of my killing them. (We had this hate/respect thing going) They both hated me and respected me. >G< One of their best pilots, and a person who was excellent at fighter tactics, Owl, said that I flew the P-51D like a ZEKE. Go figure. I did but do not pass that around. During this time Kelton and I were still going around and around about aspects of the P-51D Mustang. You see the Mustang could carry two bombs, and he only had her set up to carry one bomb. The F4U and P38 could both carry two, but Kelton felt that it was not a good idea to give that capability to such a quick and potentially deadly plane. Also the .50 caliber machine guns on the P-51D and other American planes were not modeled correctly in many people's opinion. The data from Dayton and other places also supported this contention. The problem was that cannon aircraft were getting a better deal because of some values Kesmai used to calculate damage. Also It was my opinion that the P-51D was too darn sluggish between 13kish and 20k. The P-51D has a low blower just like the high blower already modeled. Since then the P-51D has had two bombs modeled. The gunnery has been modified to better represent the damage that .50 caliber machine guns can do. Still though, the P-51D has not got the low blower modeled. In defense of Kesmai, Kelton says that it is modeled off of the data I sent them. However if you fly the P-51D alot you will find it most sluggish in climbs and other maneuvers between the aforementioned altitudes. The P-51D was still not getting the attention from the Air Warrior community that the best fighter of World War II deserves. Problem was, the P-51D was accurately modeled and the other planes were not! This all evened out when we went to realism. Its amazing what realtime and the advent of spins and such did for the old girl. Flying the P-51D is a fun time. It has several things going for it. Foremost of all is the bubble canopy. It gives great visibility in all directions and azimuths. Granted this is not that big of a consideration in the world of art views and the on-off switch, yet for those of you who are into realism, appreciate the design for what it is, unmodified. The P-51D is also the beneficiary of 6 .50 caliber guns as mentioned above. These are some of the finest aircraft weapons ever manufactured. The amount of damage that they can inflict can be witnessed in any gun camera film from the World War II era. The machine guns carry an abundance of ammunition which allow you to do multiple passes at numerous targets. Fuel capacity is also one of the benefits of the Mustang. While this is not that apparent in arena play, those scenarios that are run every once in awhile bear this feature out in its best light. The P-51D is also the recipient of the finest inline engine to come out of World War II, the Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650-7 manufactured by Packard. This little baby is a sweet engine. It and those laminar flow wings allow the Mustang to reach tremendous speeds in a dive. I have NEVER ripped wings in a Mustang. I have had the needle pegged out on the air speed indicator also. The P-51D Mustang is simply the best all around fighter plane in Air Warrior. Granted it is not for everyone. It does require skill and thinking to be flown well and survive. Remember though that as long as you fly it within its envelope, high speed passes and turning to kill, the plane is very deadly. Be Watching your six for Mustangs. Because nothing else can catch you. Fencer <<4thFG>> General Flight ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Your Pony will serve you well. Just remember to use a light hand when controlling the 51. What you are trying to achieve is a fluidity of flight. The more fluid you are the less energy you will bleed. Energy is life in the 51. Now, there are two forms of energy that I apply to flying the 51. Potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential is in the form of altitude and kinetic in the form of speed. Potential is always better imho because you may have a massive amount of kinetic energy (525ias) but that energy will only be able to get you back up to a certain level of potential energy. Example: You dive from 20k and achieve a really nice air speed (525! Yipeeeeeeeee!!!!!!). You take your dive all the way down to 5k. Now, you probably will only be able to zoom back up to 15k. A loss of 5k in energy. Also, the time spent in the dive could have been spent climbing and storing more E. Spend that energy wisely. The 51 performs best above 155ias. Keep your eyes peeled for when the speedometer pegs out below that magical 155 number. As you start dropping to 155-150ias in a combat situation (and you should only if you're turning or looping) you should either be thinking "time to nose down a bit to build my IAS" or "time to deploy 1/4 flaps to keep me from stalling". Now, either of these situations are not good in combat. It means you're starting to blow it. But we'll talk more about fighting your Pony later. When you do get slow in the 51 it is extremely important to lay off the rudder. The 51 spins fairly easily at low speeds (below 155ias). When you are approaching stall you must be very careful with your control move- ments. Dump 1/4 flaps to help you turn around 150ias then start a low nose slice (low yoyo). Retract your flaps as you go low to build your air speed up quicker. As you accelerate think about your energy state and expenditure of it. As in the previous example, potential energy is always better to have than kinetic. The more you nose down the more you spend. You could be doing something better like climbing and storing extra energy. So, as you regain better control of the 51 start thinking about going into the vertical again. Generally, in the 51 hard turns are a no no. Turns in the horizontal are extremly wasteful of energy and given the fact that 95% of the planes in Air Warrior turn better than the 51 at low speeds, this is a grave error to be making. You must constantly be thinking energy management in the 51. The 51 performs atrociously at best with anything more than 1/4 flaps. It doesn't possess the ability to flip over gracefully at low speeds with full flaps as the F4U does at the top of a loop. If you ever find that you're deploying more than 1/4 flaps you may need to rethink your tactics. Spinning the 51 can be a trying experience at best. I've had times where I'm on the edge at 15k and just barely spin. I planted myself 30 seconds later in the dirt. I corrected one spin just to whack myself into a reverse direction spin over and over. Remember, lay off the rudder at low speeds. Using the rudder in the 51 can be rather limited yet often necessary. I find I use the rudder most for those quick snap shots or to correct during high speed passes. I strongly recommend purchasing a rudder product from a company with a reputation for product support. I myself use a stick with hat views, a throttle device, and a rudder device. I do not subscribe to the idea that the controls, computer, monitor size, video card, or any other peripheral make the AW fighter pilot. It's brains and discipline, that's all. "Back in the days when we walked five miles, through the snow, in bare feet, in a blizzard, with a sore throat, to play AW, we didn't have them thar fancy controls". They were out but I didn't purchase them for quite some time. Also, I'm not one of the "true" vets of AW. I've been flying since February of '93. In writing this help file I thought it just wouldn't be complete or valid unless I included other view points besides my own. So, without further adieu, I would like to introduce Rash, an excellent P51 driver who is covering an area that I have neglected. "The p51 is the premier B&Z plane, but with speed comes blackouts. So here is an exercise that you will learn to avoid blackouts during a high G turn. "Climb above 10,000 feet, then start a nose low bank turn. You will want to keep your airspeed around 180. At this speed, try to pull as many g's as possible (should be around 4 g's sustained). Now, put your flaps down 1 position, and see how many G's you can sustain- should be around 6. Now hold that turn close as you can to 6 g's, all the way to the ground. "Keep practicing this until you can do it without blacking out. You should also try to change directions of your turn, and keeping G's high during the directional change. "Once you train your eye's to watch the G-meter, staying awake will be much easier. :) " -Rash I now hand you over to Leech, another excellent P51 driver. "I've thrown together a few quick notes here that apply to how I fly. 1 - Always climb to 20k to start any sortie. This gives you time to focus your concentration and will usually give you the E advantage at the beginning of any engagement. 2 - Do not let your speed drop below 225 when engaged unless you plan to dogfight to the end. The P51 is the fastest plane in the game and you must maintain your ability to extend away from an enemy. 3 - When making a high energy pass on an enemy, do not follow the target more than 1/4 to 1/2 turn. If the pass does not result in a kill, recover your alt and E, re-assess the situation and make another pass. Attrition will usually get you the kill if you are patient. 4 - Do not stallfight with aircraft that have superior sustained turning rates. Once you slow down below 190 or so, the spits, zeros, and hellcats will win almost every time. 5 - Avoid any extended engagement between 14k and 19k. This is the P51's worst performance range in comparison to other planes in the game. The best performance range is the 8k to 13k range. At 12k the P51 is the fastest plane in the game, period. 6 - Avoid over controlling the plane. The P51 will maintain its E well if you make smooth limited movements with the joystick. If you find yourself blacking or redding out frequently, this is the problem. After you have flown the plane for a while you will learn where the blackouts occur and be able to "ride the edge" successfully. 7 - Study the characteristics of the other aircraft in the game and evaluate their abilities vs the P51. Modify your actions to create situations where your plane has the advantage and your opponents advantages are nullified. I'm happy to contribute to any effort which helps new flyers (and old ones too :)). AW is a kick-@ss game and the more the merrier." -Leech Fighting your Ride ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "When I fly a P51 its usually because I feel the need for speed. That one quality the P51 excels at, if used properly, leaves you with complete control of your situation in almost any hostile environment." -Killer Ok, you've decided to become one of the elite of AW . You've climbed into a P51 and are throttling up the runway. You've decided you're going to learn how to kill effectively in the Pony or you're just going to say screw it and become a dweebfire driver forever ;) First of all, resign yourself to the fact that it's gothat it's going to take you a while to make kills consistently. With thla. With the 51 you're going to find at first that you're zo cannd just can't hit sh!t. Time to brush up on your gunnery. rng onery. One of my favorite quotes from the AW manual is: "Personal log: I find the better I shoot, the less I have to maneuver." inished learning the 51 (if anyone ever is finished) you're going to be one heck of a shot (or you'll have quit in frustration). You'll find that as you attack and fail to hit anything over and over again, your thinking will change. You won't go diving in at a 45 degree angle any longer, you'll decide to over fly the fight and then at it's apex you'll flip over and scream on down at a 90 degree angle. This way you can pick your victim and he will be leaving the center of the fight at some angle in respect to your 90 degree attack angle. Now, this is where the discipline comes in. You find yourself at 350ias and the shot isn't looking all that good. Should you follow the target into his turn and push a good position until it's bad or should you just take a low percentage shot and go vertical again? Well, neither. You should seldom follow a target through his turn and you should never waste your ammo on low percentage shots. Confused? Remember what I said about general flight in the Mustang. Fluidity. What you should then do is pull up into the vertical gently, trying to conserve your E, and then try and position yourself over your target to begin another 90 degree diving attack. As you enter your attack pass it is advisable that you don't enter it at an already high speed. You will build too much speed and overshoot your target and end up way below him and then have to zoom back above him. This usually ends with a net loss of energy leaving less altitude now seperating you from your target who is now more than likely real p!ssed with you . Here is veteran P51 driver, SB, with his valuable contribution on fighting the Mustang. "Hmmmm, guess I'd have to say to fight successfully in the 51 you have to stay fast and turn nose down. Don't try to turnfight at all below 10k in it. Ahhh, I have it, let them come up to you . "Basically, I'm gentle on the stick, heavy on the use of flaps to turn or loop, and always looking for a way out of a fight if I need to leave in a hurry. "I believe that I could fly an entire camp in a 51 and never get killed in it. I wouldn't get too many kills either. If I'm looking for a safe ride, I feel like you can never go wrong with speed. I just wish it had the FW's guns, talk about a superplane then!" -SB The Sneak Attack! (Yah right, in AW?) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This works only on occasion. Funny, seeing as this is how they did it all the time in WW2 apparently. Use the Mustang's incredible diving speed to your greatest advantage. Sometimes you'll dot someone lower and this is when you should dive flat out at once. You can sometimes hit them so fast that they will not have checked that view within the last several seconds or they will misjudge your closure rate. Network delays can show your opponent that you are 1500 yards out and closing while in your view, seeing as how you are at 500ias, he'll be within gun range. Also, if you do see someone lower you can try diving fast below him and try the low 6 sneak. Fighting the Mustang against the Planes of AW ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 51 vs FW Here you usually have the advantage in all but lethality. The FW can turn better than you if it stays in the straight up and vertical. The enemies ability to utilize the FW's ability to hang on end and then flip over with full flaps is something the 51 driver should watch closely for. If the FW starts these vertical stall climbs you should really start thinking energy management. Keep the fight in a climbing spiral seeing as the 51 does have a marginal advantage over the FW in ROC (rate of climb) and in turning in the pure horizontal. Avoid going nose to nose. 51 vs Spitfire Make sure you have an alt advantage. Use the basic attack that I mentioned previously on the Spitfire. Watch for your target to do a nose low slice as you dive on his six. He'll try and bleed your energy from you by trying to evade you while climbing. Press your attack when you see the spit going up. You can't afford to miss usually, so finish the spit off quickly while continually trying to conserve your E and to stay on top. 51 vs Bf109 Pretty much the same as the Spit except the 109 can't turn as well. The 109 flyer will really try and stay in the vertical seeing as this is the 109z main advantage over any plane. You can sometimes fight a protracted fight with the 109 and make your opponent press his attack on you. The 109 has a small fuel and ammo load. Remember that. 51 vs Yak9d Well, the Yak is slow but turns on a dime. It can be a very frustrating target. Take your time and be extra careful to line up an overhead 90 degree diving pass. 51 vs P38 The 38 is slow and can't quite climb as well as the 51 it seems. Stay in the vertical and conserve your E and you should find that it's fairly easy to stay on top of the fight. Also, the 38 compresses at high speeds, so if you find a 38 diving on you and you have room, dive away from him. Build your speed up to 450ias or greater. Make sure he's at the same rate or closing even. Then pull up hard into the vertical. You may black out but the 38 driver will either have to hit the brakes and lose E or he won't be able to follow you up due to compression from the dive. Make sure your dive is fairly steep and the 38 is on the same angle when you pull up. 51 vs F4U The F4 is probably the toughest to fight. It turns a bit better than the 51 at lower speeds and climbs an aweful lot better. The F4 can hang on its prop for a while then flip over quickly with full flaps. Finish the F4 bugger off quickly. Be extra careful to conserve your E. The F4 is tough so it will probably take a couple passes to kill it. 51 vs Ki84 Approach killing the Ki like you would a spit. Except the Ki can't nearly climb so well. The 51 can marginally outclimb the Ki at altitude. Watch for those constant defensive nose low slices. People get in ruts and they'll do the same defensive move over and over. Anticipate and nail the Ki. Given an alt advantage, you should have no problems staying on top of the Ki. 51 vs Zeke This is a tough little bugger to kill. It turns on a dime as we all know and thus makes it a tough target to hit. Anticipate the break turn. Save your ammo if the shot isn't there. 51 vs F6F Similar to fighting the F4U. The F6 is considerably slower so you can pretty much always dive away if you find yourself in a co-E situation. The F6 if anything, is even tougher than the F4. Expect to make a couple passes. 51 vs P47 Now, the Jug is a good aircraft up high. The P47 is faster than the Mustang at altitude. That is the P47's only advantage. If you can sucker a higher P47 into following you down in your defensive nose low slice then you should be able to pick him apart. Watch for the P47 to break off and escape. Mustang vs Mustang Well, here is an interesting situation. Now the chips are down. You are no longer E fighting strictly speaking. You had better know how to stallfight your 51 or you're gonna be climbing out from an airfield again real soon. Remember to fly the edge but always in control. 1/4 flaps as you hit 150ias. Try and keep the fight in the vertical if you feel confident that you can ride the stall edge better than your opponent. Now, a time may come when your opponent makes a strictly defensive move such as a nose low slice or enters a spin. This is where discipline comes in. DO NOT FOLLOW YOUR OPPONENT DOWN. Go high and then you can relax as you pick him apart at your leisure. Your opponent will know right then that he's blown the fight. Watch for him to disengage. Situational Awareness ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Fighting 1 vs 1 is all fine and dandy but chances are someone will be coming along soon enough to spoil the fight. Of course, this is what you should expect and not bitch about seeing as you are initially taking advantage of someone by entering the fight with an E advantage. Driving the Mustang is cold and heartless, YET still a challenge! You'll be taunted if you decide to bug as the odds drop from your favour. You'll often find a group comes after you with a higher 51 to insure that you won't be able to disengage. Get used to it. As you attack keep a vigilant eye on radar sector counters and dots entering the area, especially dots higher than you. On the brighter side, flying the Mustang allows you to successfully engage multiple opponents at the same time yet gives you the ability to disengage in most situations and land your kills. Always watch for a higher P51 entering the fight. Immediately target that 51. If you get the edge on him he'll know it and dive down to the blanket of friendly stallfighters. You are now free to resume your attack with your altitude advantage intact. As you engage multiple targets watch for one or more to break off while your target stays and keeps doing aggressive nose low avoidance. This is a team flying together. They have designs on killing you horribly, hehe. The others leaving the fight will be back with the altitude advantage on you. When you see the dots approaching it's time to bug! Conversely, you can break off attack on your initial target and follow those that are leaving the fight. Attack them as they try to climb. Chances are the ones leaving the fight to climb are the more experienced flyers. My Favorite Disengagement Move ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ When I see *multiple* dots approaching me from a higher altitude I start to get nervous. They are most likely hunting you if you've been harrasing them all night . They've seen your Pony all over their radar screens in their country and they want you dead. Here they come. Most likely a Spit and 51 combination. Some plane that can outdive you, maybe a FW with alt or a 51 and a stallfighter to get you when they've cornered you. Dive away. Check your alt. Leave about 15k if you can, 10k will do in a pinch. The 51 that is running you down is now 2k behind you. Roll over and do an aggressive nose low slice but even more vertical. Split S under your enemy and STAY CONSCIOUS! Do another semi-split S keeping your air speed high and head home. Most likey they will find themselves at the same speed as you now or will have seperated. The smart 51 driver will watch for you to do this. He will stay fast but not follow you as aggressively. He'll maintain enough speed and altitude to dive on you again and as many times as necessary. Now, it is my pleasure to present the following quote contributed from a premier spit driver and a not too shabby 51 flyer. I give you Twisted. "No doubt about it, Spits are hard nuts for Mustangs to crack. The most dangerous Spit to a 'Stang is the one who is 4K or so above you. The Spit has tremendous dive acceleration up to the 300IAS range and can maximize a slight alt advantage very easily to make your life miserable. "Much more than 4K above you though, and the Spit pilot has a lot of alt he doesn't particularly need (or want). Especially if you have a cushion underneath of 5K or more. If I'm in a 51 and I see a much higher Spit coming down on me, I see if I can build up about 250 IAS or so, then drop 1 notch of flaps. When the Spit gets close to a guns solution I make a fairly hard nose-down break opposite his dive angle, possibly rolling a bit through the turn, and unflapping at the end - ideally with my speed right at 300IAS. "90% of the Spit pilots out there can't track this. They're probably going too fast when they get to you; their usually crisp roll rate has turned to mush, and they'll often forget to chop throttle in following your break. Even if they do, after diving that distance and then going nose-down a Spit has a hard time bleeding enough speed off to match the turn radius of a 1- notch 51. If you gain enough separation (1600) with your break and he's not gaining, just keep a LEVEL extension going and you'll be fine. Otherwise try to repeat the maneuver, only this time build up more speed (350) and roll a lot. You can out roll a Spit at 350IAS in a Mustang. NEVER try to out-zoom a Spit that is close to your speed - level extend him. "The only other big deal to fighting Spits from an E-perspective is not to get cocky with slight alt advantages on your side. The 51 holds energy as well or better than any plane in the arena when treated properly, but a Spit can _gain_ energy better than anything except possibly a 109. Don't expect 2K alt and 250IAS to give you an advantage that allows you to dive in and immediately hard zoom. All the Spit pilot has to do is avoid your first pass in this situation, and if you hard zoomed afterwards, he's probably Co-E using a WEP climb by the time you bring yourself around again." -Twist They Cornered me...Now what Mr.Brilliant?? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bend over and kiss....hehe, not quite. As they corner you, start really looking closely at the terrain . Ya ya, no time for sightseeing. Look for mountains and preferably a mountain range. Head for one if you can make it. Use the mountain as a shield. They'll have to be very careful to avoid augering. Keep on the same plane as the mtn and do some nice looping moves parrallel to that plane. Engage the 51 that hunted you down. If you can kill him then chances are you may be able to disengage from the stall- fighters. Use any advantage you can in this life and death situation. They've taken the time to hunt you down, give them their moneys worth! (And get yours too :) And Finally....Attitude!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "If taunting and insults on channel 1 bother you enough on your egress that you give into your primal urges, tune to another channel." -Rabid "When you're out of Mustangs, you're out of fighters." -Fencer So, now you're either thinking, "Bingo doesn't know what the heck he's talking about" or, "Hmm, alot to flying this wee beastie". The fact is, if you think someone is better than you, you've already defeated yourself. You should be of the mindset now, "I'm gonna learn the 51 then go kick so and so's butt!". Don't feel bad if you disengage from a multiple plane engagement where you're all alone. Take your experience to live and learn. Conversely, you can stay in a tough fight with stallfighters and learn how to ride the edge in the 51 that much quicker. You'll die alot but your learning curve may decrease. Also, if you ever have the chance at a 1 on 1 P51 fight, TAKE IT! It will be invaluable experience on how others fly the Mustang. Do not run from a single 51 :) Think to yourself, "I can take him!". Absence of Films ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have not included any films with this file so as to make the download much quicker and to give you the DLer a choice in what you want to spend your money on. If you would like films from me you can search in the libraries on page 870 (type m870;3). Try the gunfilm library of course. Use a search (option #3 I believe) and enter the word "Bingo" as your search parameter. I have some pretty good F4U films as well where I use the same tactics. After having read this, I ask you the reader to understand I recognize that I do not know everything that there is to be known about flying the P51. I merely hope that you have gained some insight, however tiny, on how to utilize the P51 to some advantage without going through the learning curve I have. I also hope to never hear something along the lines of George C. Scott from the movie "Patton" on channel one.... "Gawddamnit Bingo! I read your book! Muhahahahahaha!" Special thanks to Fencer, SB, Twist, Gray Eagle, Rash, Rabid, Killer, and Leech for their valued contributions to this text file. Thanks guys! Hope you've enjoyed the read :) Bingo - Darek Richmond | ,.. /~| < ~~~~~Bingo~~~`--| |`~~~`-=--_,/'~~`