This cracks me up! The P-51D had a wing loading at normal takeoff weight of 39.5 pounds per square foot while the Arado AR*-234B had a wing loading at normal takeoff weight of over 65 pounds per square foot.
OK, everyone, which one turns better at 450 mph? If you pick anything other than the P-51D, aerodynamics is not your strong suit. C'mon, the AR-234 is 18,000 to 22,000 pounds versus the Mustang at roughly 10,000 pounds max by the time it would encounter an AR-234. The speed doesn't matter at all. The g-available does. A P-51D Mustang can sustain considerably more g than an Arado AR 234 of any sort with heavy engines out on the wing. The g-available is better for the Mustang from stall to structural limit in both positive and negative operation, though neither one was a negative g-type aircraft. The jet engine would not even continue to run at sustained negagitive g-loads. The P-51 pilot could, in a pinch, simply pump the primer handle and continue to produce power at negative g though, in practice, combat in WWII was simply NOT much of a negative g affair.
The P-51 rolls better at any speed, pitches better at any speed, yaws better at any speed, and is all around much more responsive at any speed. The AR 234 is fast, but not nuch faster than a stock P-51D. 23 mph difference isn't decisive at all, ir either direction. If the Mustang had ANY altitude advantage, it could get to the AR 234's speed, and whether or not an intercept was possible depended on the speed and altitude difference between the two aircratf when both pilots became aware of the other one's presence and intentions. Of course, the AR-234's cruised at over 400 mph and the Mustang cruised at about 300 mph, give or take a few mph. But if the P-51's were expecting to encounter AR-234's. they would be cruising much faster and had a decent chance fior intercept. If the P-51's were flying escort, they probably would not leave the escort mission for an AR-234 intercept anyway since the mission was escort. If they were crusing at about 300 mph, and close to the same altitude, then the AR-234 was probably fairly safe unless the AR-234 pilot(s) were heading toward another P-51 formation and they got radio notification to power-up and intercept the jet.
The Germans only made about 210 or so AR 234's, so the 12,500 Mustangs didn't have to shoot down very many to make a dent in the jet population.
If planned and executed correctly, the AR-234 mission SHOULD have had a decent chance of survival but, in combat, plans don't generally survive first contact! The performance of the two was generally too close to give a decisive advantage to either one, though I'd say the Mustangs would generally be crusing slowly and thus would have to have a pretty decent altitude advantage to intercept. But, since they had flown from relatively far away and were at altitude and at cruise speed, they SHOULD have been generally highter than the Arados since the Arado didn't have much in the way of range. Sure, it COULD get high, but didn't have much range once it got there. The often-quoted 967 mile range for the AR-234 was a best case, correct altitude and speed range. The real operational range was considerably less and would deteroriate with power and altitude differences from ideal, so I think the Mustangs would have generally been higher unless they were straffing or attacking the ground. If so, the AR-234 was safe as can be. Oterhwise, it was a crap shoot with odds favoring the Arado, but not by all that much.
I say favoring teh Arado becasue I don;t think many P-51 pilots expected to encounter a jet bomber, so they would be more or less caught off guard. Still. 460 mph isn't much faster than an Me 109 or and Fw 190, so the visual finding of it wasn't all tath much different from finding and seeing a German piston fighter.
They certainly did that with skill.