Although the P-51D is considered the “Cadillac” of WWII fighters, I could not get into it as a fighter. I don’t know if the FM is not quite right, but I prefer the “Porsche” of WWII fighters – the Bf 109 – to the smooth cruising but ponderous “Cadillac”. I like my fighter planes the way I like my cars: the more “personality” the better.

Curiously, most of my flying time was spent with the Thunderbolt, although I made several mistakes piloting the legendary P-47. First, I took off from a small, private strip (translation: unpaved dirt road) about fifty clicks south of Phoenix. There wasn’t enough strip to enable the T-bolt to get up enough speed for a clean takeoff.



By-the-book says a P-47 needs to achieve a speed of 140 mph. I tried to take off at 100 mph. It was a good thing I don’t tuck my landing gear immediately. I achieved the dizzying altitude of forty feet and suddenly started to descend. Several bounces off the desert rough later, and after a quick change of underwear, I managed to get airborne.

At 8,000 feet, I decided to lighten my plane, so I dropped the bombs fixed to my wings and then released my drop tanks. Remember, this is an add-on to a civilian flight sim, so you’re not going to see any explosions no matter where you release the bombs.