ORIGINAL: Beaufighter
Thanks for the observations - you touched on something there that until now I had't noticed - so I went and checked the TX, and sure enough it's set on high rates.
Oh - that will have made it quite a bit harder. By itself that accounts for about 70% of your difficulties.
but the Spit - being faster than I was anticipating - made that space feel half the size. I'll need to find a much bigger flying field before I attempt it again!
If you can find four football fields arranged in a 2x2 rectangle that is the most space you could use really - any bigger and you will fly the plane out of visual range - another risk with warbirds in particular is letting them get too far away from you. There camo makes them blend into the background. Of course, at distance your ability to percieve any colour drops off and the model will just become gray.
The other thing is getting to altitude, and then setting that throttle at 2/3rds or 3/4 and just dialing it back step by step from there until you have a speed as low as possibly but the plane is comfortably flying and banking.
I also agree with you that a SIM would be a wise next purchase. What is FMS? - sorry, rookie question I know!
FMS is Free Model Simulator - you can download it here for free (use the latest alpha):
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html
Get the PZ FW190 and P51D Models from here:
http://gunnerson.homestead.com/files/fms_models.htm
You'll need some sort of input device - usng the keyboard wont help you build the memory associations you need to. A play station style controller for your PC, or even a joystick (given your spit flys on one stick) using the keyboard for throttle might be okay.
The physics in FMS isn't great, but it will help you get your head around orientation, speed, and planning issues. Try using one of the more cluttered backgrounds to challenge your mind on the planning front.
Spend a few hours with this and you will be much better prepared for the next flight.
Cheers,
Oz.