"LRod" wrote in message
I didn't think I was going to have to explain this. "Delight to fly"
in the military sense means being able to go into the fight with the
fastest, quickest (not the same thing), best armed ship in the fight.
The P-51 was always that (in WWII) and didn't require the pilot to
have to manhandle it out and back. Thus, "delight to fly" has/had more
than one implication.

First time pilots would sometimes flip on takeoff from the engine torque.
Once that was overcome, it was a sweet machine. IMO, it is the best
looking, most graceful military plane ever built. At least one step ahead
of the Corsair. If I could own any one plane, it would be the 51D