SO you made it to the P51 mustang. Now what? (realistic play mostly)
You now have The P-51. Time to rule the skys! Right? Hold on, maybe not. (Disclaimer. My history is not perfect and these are just my options, both on why the P51 is great and how I like to use it. Your experiences may very)
The P51 does have its place for fame in WWII but it may not be because it was the best plane ever built. Don’t get me wrong, I love this plane and I love flying it in WT. The P-51 was the first Allied fighter to be able to escort the B17s all the way to Berlin and back. Because they were the first it was a surprise to the German fighters to be flying over the once safe air space at home and find that there was a good fighter plane that now had to be dealt with.
Okay now to the P-51 in War Thunder. The plane fits it historical roll well if you think about it. The plane is very stream lined, to the point that lift was sacrificed in the wing for efficiency. This makes the P-51 an average to poor climbing plane but having tremendous range (something WT cares nothing about at the moment). This streamlining makes the plane very energy efficient too, so in War Thunder this means once you get this plane going fast, it will stay fast. Remember, that speed you have is hard fought won, so don’t waist it carelessly as it takes a long time to get it back.
Before I go in to detail I would like to list the planes attributes.
Cons:
- Poor to average climber
- Slow acceleration from the engine in level flight
- Only has 50cal machine guns
- Wings now break if you pull too many Gs (easy to do when you go fast)
- Average turning plane
- Struggles in a fight if you do not have the energy advantage
Pros:
- A lot of ammo for the 50cals (so you can load on Sunday and shoot all week)
- Can load bombs or rockets for later in the game
- Good high altitude performance
- Huge fuel load
- Great cockpit view (for simulator battles)
- Fast acceleration in a dive
- High energy retention (so once you are going fast you stay fast)
- Excellent plane in a group
- Good as both an energy fighter or in a boom and zoom role
- YOU ARE FLYING A P-51!!!! (that is awesome)
Okay here is the breakdown.
Climbing (boo)
This is why you may struggle with the P-51 in War Thunder the most. In history the P-51 was never an interceptor. Those were German and British planes. The Mustang had the luxury of flying across the English Channel before every having to think about fighting. In War Thunder (realistic battles), everyone starts on the ground and it is often a race to get the altitude. Being higher than your enemy means you have more energy and you can dictate the fight. If someone is higher than you, you are already on the defensive. They get to choose the fight. Because in WT each player gets to race up, the planes with the higher climb rate have a clear advantage. This puts the Mustang at a disadvantage ALWAYS! The way to counter this is to climb to the side away from the battle. The risk then is that when you finally get to the battle, it could be over and no enemy are left or you are the last person on your team. Kind of a lose lose situation. The gamble is yours, how high do you want to climb?
Turning Skills
The P-51 is an average turning plane. You can out turn a FW190 but not a BF109 (for the most fart but many factors come into play. No P-51 enjoys a turning fight). Basically, only turn fight if you must. Boom and Zoom if you can, and energy fight. If you cannot escape or the energy fight is even between the two planes you may want to bug out of the fight. Be warned though, the plane’s engine will not pull you out of there without a good chance that you will take some hits in the process. The best run you can do is a dive for speed and then level out and fly off into the distance.
Speed Saves and Speed Kills
Next is one of the planes best strengths and one of the biggest weakness that all P-51 pilots will do at least once. This is the planes ability to gain speed really fast and the weak wings. When you try to move to the side the plane will first lift the nose a little then roll. Fine, but if you are going 500kph, this little move will put a momentary high G force on the plane and pop, there goes your wing. In this plane it is easy to get going too fast in a dive. When in your dive on an enemy and you are not looking at your speed and you turn to follow them and boom wings break. Everyone one does it and you have to watch you speed, if you are diving, throttle down and set up a good attack run. If they bank out of the way, just throttle up and climb back up to set up a new attack. You are in control of the fight, there is no need to force the kill. Maintain control. The speed can help you though if you are defensive. Just put you plane into a slight dive, or a short steep dive and build up that speed. Then just level out and fly away. Most planes will have trouble keeping up with you. Very few will be able to catch you.
x6 50cal Machine Guns
The P-51 has six 50cal machine guns. This is both good and bad. Bad because they are 50cals and taking down large targets can be a burden. Good because the 50cals get a ton of ammo. So you can down 2 or 3 planes and still have ammo to spare. The 50cals will start to lose their effectiveness as the distance increases. So you need to get in kind of close. I like 300 meters and I do not shoot and expect anything beyond 500meters range. It can and does happen that the long shot works, but don’t bank on it. The P-51 is a get in, pick away at the enemy and fly away. It is a death by a thousand cuts. I do seem to set more planes on fire using the P-51 than any other plane it feels like.
Team Play To The Max
The P-51 being such a good runner means it can great in the drag role. Most people will get fixated on a kill and dive or chase when they should break off (I am guilty of this from time to time). So while that person is chasing you down to kill you, they do not notice the second P-51, (which also can accelerate like mad) diving down and coming up on their six. Talk with you squad mate and if you are diving have then drag the enemy to the best place to engage them. If you are coming in from the side, have them bank away from you so the enemy shows you six so there is no deflection shot. Easy as pie and even though the P-51 only has 50cals, they do a lot a damage. No you will not be blowing planes to bits like a 30mm cannon, but you can wreck their control surfaces and the plane will go down. Very few planes can fight with a black wing. They often have a hard enough time just flying.
So this is where P-51s excels the most. They are a pack animal. Work together and they are amazing planes.
There are many of us who love flying this plane, so do not be afraid to ask more questions. We may even go out on a few flights together to as wingmen.
See you in the clouds
Cloud Chaser
