P-47 vs P-51, Why bother with the thunder?

[Lens7]

I got Battle of Bodenplatte a while back and while I'm enjoying most of the new pack's planes on both sides (admittedly though I've overwhelmingly flown just the 190 A-8 on the axis side) I genuinely am struggling to find a reason to pick the P-47 over the P-51 when I have the choice.

While sure, the Jug has more guns, is more durable (supposedly), and a much more expanded air to ground suite, I fail to see how that trumps the Mustang in terms of 'flyability'. The thing is reminding me of my initial negative impressions of Il-2 and non-FBW aircraft in how any turn except the most gentle (ie just bank at about 30 and don't you dare pull more than a millimeter) seems to threaten a stall and in air to air, though my experience may be affected by flying against AI, even practicing gunnery in the combat box practice server I might as well have a single pass against an actual bandit because by the time I'd be turning around for a second pass the bandit has most likely turned away or just outright gone home. This sort of thing becomes especially annoying if say I have someone on my six. If I'm lucky enough to not be swiss cheese in the 2 seconds after I've seen him, all I can do is just cut and run. Even against the AI which seems to turn in a 180 after a merge leaves me in a deadlocked tail chase because there's nothing I can do to reverse the fight. 

While yes, the P-47 performs best at high altitudes, I've almost never seen anyone fly about 15000 feet, which renders that part irrelevant. On ground attack, while yes, more guns and a bit more ordnance to bring, with 2500lbs of bombs and 2 rocket pods that you can jettison after you miss anyways, you can still get 2000lbs and 2 less guns with a much more manageable flight with the P-51, and unlike the thunderbolt if you need to you can actually fight in air to air afterwards. 

Is there some sort of fuel problem for it too like the mustang had? Because while I fly both at 68%, the Thunderbolt is still much more unstable in anything but a straight line. The only tactic I can see actually working for these things is 
1. Fly with not just one wingman, but a whole on flight of at least 4;
2. Basically BnZ with in a 'sequential salvo' where you just have each plane make a single pass on the enemy and that's about it, because it'll be a good 5 minutes before you'll be making another. At least with more people coming the bandit can't just turn onto your six and follow you afterwards to prevent a second pass.

 

With the P-51 on the other hand I actually am enjoying the thing, hell I occasionally just do a free flight because it flies that nice.

 

Back to my original question. I find the Thunderbolt interesting (thanks Greg), but I just cannot find myself enjoying flying it. What am I missing? Or should I just go for the mustang since it seems to be more my speed and ditch trying to make sense of the thunder?

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Why so many pilots where not happy to switch from p47 to p51 this game doesn't portrait 

[LukeFF]

Guys, friendly reminder: if you have a complaint about a flight model support please post a track and any other supporting evidence you have to support your claim. Just saying a plane is programmed like a brick is not going to resolve anything. 

[Gambit21]

4 hours ago, 1PL-Husar-1Esk said:

Why so many pilots where not happy to switch from p47 to p51 this game doesn't portrait 

Yep, and why so many pilots wanted their Jugs back when flying ground attack missions over Normandy (and I’ve heard this first hand from multiple veterans) is also not represented in this game. 
 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2024 by Gambit21

[69th_Mobile_BBQ]

My joystick (X-52pro) and rudder (Thrustmaster t1600) sensitivity seems to change according to the day's weather... I can't really explain it.  I make sure they're calibrated every time I play but, the sensitivity of inputs varies wildly from day to day.  It has nothing to do with in-game settings. 

 

That said, The P-47 has an elevator sensitivity that no in-game adjustments really help with.  The D-22 is actually really good on the deck as a ground pounder If I use IL-2 Sturmovik (the plane) tactics.  Fly gently, mostly in the horizontal, extend up to 10 or more km away from the target area after the attack before circling back, etc..   

With either model, D-22 or D-28, dogfighting is almost impossible.  The elevator is so sensitive that by the time the plane starts to "shudder" (warning signs of rear horizontal stabilizer wing stall) it's too late and the plane snap stalls. Yes, I do understand that it's not going to dogfight like a Spitfire mk.IX and I do avoid throwing it around like that but, maneuvers the P-47 should easily do, I can't get from it.

It's not a complaint as, like I said, maybe my controls are wonky, but the P-47s are pretty much the most uncontrollable planes in the game for me. I can do it, and the D-22 is the more pleasant one to fly but, it still doesn't inspire me to want to use it for anything other than drive-by bombing and strafing. 

[Gambit21]

The programmers have done some amazing things, and I'm happy to give credit for them, but they've been all over the map as well.

Tempest, Mustang, Yaks, IL2 on and on, nothing but praise here.

 

Some aircraft they absolutely nail, some are so off the mark that if you've read a book, ever, it's obvious that something (or in the case of the Jug, multiple things) are amiss.

 

The Jug was