Haha hilarious.
Yeah but I really don’t like these types of comparisons because it’s not like for like. I bought a soccer ball for $15 that I’ve spent tens of hours learning to do tricks with. Or my 100s (maybe 1000s) of hours in CS:GO & Rocket League which are both completely free. Conversely I spent $120 on a 30min flight in a DC3, was that not worth it?
It’s just not a productive way to figure the value of a product. Gotta compare like for like. If we go with your pizza analogy, would you spend $30 on a pizza when you knew you could get a better pizza down the road for $25? 
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Yeah, the P-51 is definitely the best looking bird from the yanks. Though, IIRC, it was developed at the request of the British - I believe the US Airforce wasn’t interested in the design initially.
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This Is true-
Remember this though- the P-51 was nothing more than the P-47s kid sister who was only more popular because she’d go further- 
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Everyone in the US military that flew the XP-51 knew how great it was from the get-go, but there was one high-ranking individual in US Material Command, Major General Bennett E Meyers, who played favorites and seemed to do all that he could to prevent North American Aviation’s new fighter from gaining acceptance by the USAAC/USAAF. Fortunately, there were guys like Lt. Col Tommy Hitchcock that successfully campaigned for the aircraft’s entry into mass production and service with the USAAF. One of the best books out there on the P-51, called " P-51B Mustang: North American’s B@stard Stepchild that Saved the Eighth Air Force", dives into this in great detail.
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Well, THATS quite a title!
Stearman948713 check your PMs…
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Right tool for the right job.
Politics (and business) aside, the reality is they were all extremely useful aircraft, until they weren’t!
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Yes but they won’t. Once they release an aircraft they forget about it and never update or fix it. The P51 is a perfect example. I saw threads where APH responded to a thread complaining about the P51 sounds. They responded with "what do you want for a $20 toy?“. I won’t spend another dime on their releases.
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I felt exactly like that too when I bought the AH P-51.
However, I’ve personally chosen to accept a slightly lower standard than what I expect from MSFS addons for the moment:
- FlyingIron is focused and tied up with the B-17 and maybe the Fw-190: I want both of those and at high fidelity
- Blackbird Simulations is focused and tied up with the UH-1, SR-71, C-130J, T-6A, T-38, and maybe the A6M: I want all of those and at high fidelity
- I don’t know what A2A is focused on: but I want anything they develop, as I trust it will define the next standard in fidelity. I pray for thier Military and Civilian P-51, MkII Spitfire, T-6, or P-40 for MSFS
- I also hope that Heatblur will bring their F-4 to MSFS
- I pray that FlyingIron will bring their A-7 to MSFS as well.
For warbirds, my tolerance is temporaily relaxed. The Aeroplane Heaven P-47 temporarily meets and satisfies my entertainment “wants”. The products I really want are still some time in coming.
In my opinion: FlyingIron, Blackbird Simulations, and A2A products are actually worth at least $60 and everyone has become accustomed too and expects that kind of technical artistry, devotion, and support without adequately compensating and rewarding those developers that share their passion with the world.
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Well said. Add-Ons in the past always cost relatively more. It’s a different market now with this sim and Xbox though. And I think the perception of value has been skewed by the “WHOLE GAME” only costing around that price.
Overall it’s up to the developers and market forces to decide what they charge. And I hope with the larger market there is enough incentive to sustain their chosen business model and commitment to making of the higher-end products. Last thing we want is a race to the bottom like in the mobile gaming world!! 
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It is the Xbox market that is driving prices down for all of us. MS was right to tap into that market and create a sim that could run on both platforms, even if it meant some compromises in areas we all know well. Does this benefit of having the much wider customer base - like 5-10 times wider - and the lower cost of addons as a result outweigh those compromises? And will technology advances in the near term actually eliminate many of those compromises sooner than we think?
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Interesting analogy apart from the fact that food isn’t optional while MSFS is. 
Now imagine they brought you a pizza the size of a pancake for that price.
The gripes about the price are about comparability to similarly priced products and from what I have seen and read about the Thunderbolt (and experienced with previous retail AH planes) the P-47 is much closer to the 20,- EUR F-86 Sabre by Shrike than i.e. the Flying Iron warbirds.
AH planes always look great but the rest is almost always a mixed bag. So I definitely wouldn’t get the same fun out of my 34,- bucks. That’s basically their business model and I don’t see any progress there either. Apart from that they have a history of rudeness, abandonware mentality and bad customer support.
I gladly buy something from them as a FamousFlyer or LocalLegend for 15,- EUR (or 9,99 with PremiumDeluxe) if it interests me, but personally I simply don’t pay premium any more just because it’s so darn pretty on the outside while the rest is somewhere between mediocre and sub-standard.
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There is no way I’m going to “gladly” pay for any of their products without seeing adequate reviews of it first to base my decision and despite what other people’s opinions and biases are - especially if it’s only a $10 Local Legend or Famous Flyer (e.g. Stratoliner). ALL of their products are a mixed bag, not just the ones they release themselves.
Aeroplane Heaven is still “…like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Luckly for me, the P-47 is one that is palettable
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well for 10 bucks I’m ready to accept a pretty exterior with not much else as long as the plane is interesting enough 
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A fair point. But it’s also worth noting that according to first reports - I have to say that because I haven’t yet bought it - the AH P-47 isn’t at the same level as other add-ons of comparable depth that are priced much lower - the Shrike F-86 and the GotFriends Wildcat come immediately to mind. So to borrow from the way PepsiCo used to talk about its snack foods, the P-47 is a “fun for you” airplane that’s considerably more expensive than other “fun for you” airplanes that have better reputations. That’s a strike against it even if it’s less expensive than the “good for you” airplanes from Flying Iron, Blackbird, Heatblur et. al.
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thats Aeroplane Heaven in a nutshell…
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I still have my limits. An MSFS addon has to offer some type of feedback while flying it. I fly inside the cockpit typically with eyes out, so I need the addon/aircraft to at the very least communicate to me via aural feedback. Flying a really good silent digital model doesn’t provide me with any immersion, and it’s not even worth installing. (E.g. Stratoliner)
This P-47 might have a meek voice while airborne, but at least it can somewhat communicate what it’s doing.
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Which is something in its favor.
We all have different priorities - sound is one of mine because, for me personally, a good soundset stands in for some of the physical sensations you can’t get any other way in a desktop sim. A big part of my enjoyment of A2A’s warbirds came from the sound (not an accident that Scott was a musician by original calling).
Once the freeware soundpack is out, I’ll be willing to come in on the P-47 - with expectations set for what it is and what it isn’t. Your commentary is very helpful in that regard - thanks for that.
Beyond that, I’d like to have a P-47 to fly because - to pick up a theme from earlier on in the thread - I think the sexiest airplane is the one that gets you home alive.
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