Yesterday a P-51 got its maiden flight. It flew almost trim free requiring only a couple of clicks of roll trim and no pitch change but it required a lot of elevator to get it to rotate and hold the nose up on flare, especially with flaps. I was rotating only after a gaining very good speed.

It was sensitive to roll but not pitch. It is more sensitive to down elevator than up. Snap rolls are snappy. Roll rate was tamed by reducing to 80% and opting for 50% exponential and pitch was adjusted by reducing down to 80% and given differential with as much up as the hinges allow. It is an old design from the ''80s and is balanced right on the point shown on the plan though the point is up on the side of the fuselage and I balanced from under the wing, adding nine ounces forward in the cowling. An in flight balance check was not done but will be next outing.

It has a 64" wing with 685 inches and weighs 9 lbs 9 oz for about 33 oz of loading and is powered by a HB .61. I''m not very familiar with heavier wing loaded planes and my question, do heavier wing loaded designs typically require a lot of elevator to rotate or does it mean that the balance point should be questioned? It flies good other than hard to rotate and keep the nose up on flare.

One can appreciate that I don't want to enter the tail heavy world messing with this thing.