Cave Tonitrum!

[Kumara 0]

Beware the Thunderbolt! This was the motto of the top scoring for aerial combat in ETO 56th FG, just to contradict the reviewer about the P47 main use as a fighter/bomber; true after the advent of the P-51 Mustang in the Fighter Command, only the 56th kept this aircraft operating in the 8th AF, and still was able to maintain the top to the end of the war in Europe, and this motto was also much subscribed by the Luftwaffe pilots who were facing this 'dinosaur - but a dinosaur vit goot proportions!' [cit. Alex Kartvell, designer of this kite].It's also a coincidence the reviewer citing IL-2 Sturmovik for both the actual aircraft and the WWII sim: in fact I started to fly FSX after a long time I was using the IL-2 simulator with and without its extensive MODs: the point is that I'm a WWII buff, and I enjoyed very much the possibility to check out all those aircraft first hand in the simulator, always with the most realistic mode enabled, seldom in combat (quite exciting, I should add) and never on-line (not by choice anyway).In that simulator I flew all kind of aircraft, both allied and axis ones, and sure enough the Surmovik has nothing to do with the Thunderbolt, and particularly for the D-20/22/23 depicted by A2A here IMO: the IL-2 was a heavy armored plane designed to blast tanks in heavens, often flying at treetop level, seldom reaching 12000', and besides being a great damage absorber, was no match for the fighters; in fact they needed a fighter escort to accomplish their missions.In the early stages of WWII, the P47 was the only choice for the USAAF, so all their FGs in Europe were equipped with the C or D5 and D15 versions: at first the pilots had some misgivings to bring this massive and ponderous fighter to cross swords with the more agile and much smaller Me109s and FW190s: they were even outmatched in the Zoom Climb tactic they were obliged to use to evade the more maneuverable German fighters in a dog fight where the pilots were trying to get on the tail of their adversaries using the horizontal plane in tight turns and rolls; even the Germans were adept in Zoom Climb tactics to evade the RAF Spitfires, especially with their Me Bf109s: their tactic consisted on circling at high altitudes 'on the perch' and dive down at high speed on the enemy aircraft; as they built up momentum in doing this they were so able to climb back up, taking the fight on the vertical plane.All this came to an end with the coming of the new advanced versions of the Thunderbolt, the D20/22/23 and the later variants: the P-47 was out-climbing and out-diving them by a great margin; using the Turbo Compressor and the Water Injection systems, the P47 was an unmatched fighter at high altitudes, from 20000 to 34000 feet, and using the external fuel tanks (from the D-15) it also had sufficient range to fly above Germany itself.Enough of this long historic preamble and let's go down to the nitty-gritty of this Accu-Sim WoPIII A2A product: it's wonderful!I have now about 200 flight hours (the number of hours required for a pilot to become operative on the Thunderbolt) on the different versions, and I should say they matched many (if not all) real procedures and details about how you should operate the aircraft; she can climb very easily to 30000', and can cruise there at about 300 knts GS, and she keeps you busy all the time in managing all the engine controls. In diving, being one of the heaviest fighter of WWII, you can easily exceed 400 knts, but still you can fairly maintain control both horizontally and vertically when not encountering the compressibility factor, very well depicted in the A2A model too.To actually learn to fly well this airplane I studied the Top Secret manuals of the real aircraft, and you can clearly detect how deeply and accurately the developers have gone to make this kite right.All aerobatics are of course possible (looping included) except in the real manuals they advise never to snap roll her (I still have to check this maneuver) and not to keep her on her back for a longer time: the roll rate is just fine.I enjoyed flying her on all of the SE Asia and through the Himalayan valleys, though you should be aware this is not by any means a STOL kind of aircraft, and the sinking rate on approach is hair rising, besides not being able to see in front of you. I noticed how well the flight model is particularly on approaches: this is one of the few aircraft in the sim where you can really see how the rate of descent is controlled by the throttle, while the speed is controlled by your pitch: I almost always end up in a three wheels landing, and feel proud to taxy her near a Lear Jet or a Jumbo Jet on the aprons anywhere in the World!Both thumbs Up for A2A: work well done!Cheerio.:Peace: