G'day You did not say whether this was your first plane or your 100th.

Trainers and models designed as "model aeroplanes" tend to fly them selves to a certain extent. Scale models usually don't and especially warbirds like the Mustang.

I have a number of scale and warbird type models and they are all far more like real planes to fly than trainers etc.

I killed a P-40 in a similar way to yours. I had been flying trainers and with them you could just add lots of power and the plane would take off by its self. The P-40 started to roll on low power and as I increased the power it was gaining speed when it hit a bump in our not so smooth field and jumped into the air. I then gave it lots of power (wrong) and it leapt into the air, stalled, dropped a wing and cartwheeled. End of story. It was trying to fly before it was actually flying.

I also have an Auster AOP-9 which has to be very carefully handled to get it into the air. It needs a long slow gradual acceleration and it then floats off but if you try to give it lots of power too soon, it just puts its nose up and stalls.

Sounds like you are learning what I have already learned by the bash and crash method. It works, but it is a bit expensive.