Rustler

The Rustler is a World War II fighter plane in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The Rustler draws inspiration from various real-life WWII fighter planes, including the North American P-51 Mustang, the Curtis P-40 Warhawk, the Hawker Typhoon and the Supermarine Spitfire.

The Rustler is a decent-sized single-seater airplane with a single propeller at the front. The cockpit is located in the middle of the plane and Carl Johnson stands on top of the plane's left wing to open the hatch to reach the cockpit. As the Rustler has a landing gear configuration, when on the ground, the plane's nose is tilted upward, with steering provided by the rear wheel.

The Rustler spawns with three different color schemes: a primary one in the main fuselage, a secondary one on the wings, on the top of the fuselage and the back rudders, and a tertiary color on the front end, the wingtips and the entire middle rudder. There are also black and white stripes on the underside of the wings and another on the lower middle, between the main wings and the rudders.

Following the fact it is based on combat planes, the Rustler has six built-in machine guns fixed into the wings, which means three guns on each wing.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
As expected from a fighter plane, the Rustler has impressive speed in the air and is very maneuverable, making it one of the easiest planes and is the first in the game to fly. However, it has a relatively long take-off time compared to other propeller-planes of its size. Like other propeller planes, it will stall when the player attempts to fly it vertically.

The six machine guns deal a moderate amount of damage, but they do not lock onto targets. Being coupled with the plane's impressive speed while in the air, this makes them difficult to use effectively. However, the Rustler can shoot down an AI-controlled Hydra in a dogfight with no problems, due to its maneuverability, speed, the machine guns' power and the guns rate of fire. The plane however is incredibly susceptible to damage.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * The Rustler is used for multiple missions at the flying school.
 * It is also used in the mission N.O.E. to fly under military radar to Angel Pine.
 * Used in the World War Ace checkpoint race in the checkpoint races in Las Venturas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Uncommonly spawns in the bottom floor of the police impound lot in Roca Escalante occasionally alongside a Leviathan and a Hydra in the Xbox and PS2 versions. Sometimes the plane intersects the ground, it is nearly impossible to even enter the plane.
 * In the PC version, the spawning frequency of the Rustler in the LVPD impound lot is largely reduced, though it may still spawn if by any chance unlike a Leviathan or a Hydra, both may not.
 * In the remastered versions of the game, the Rustler is no longer found inside the impound lot, making obtaining the Rustler from the LVPD impound lot impossible.
 * In a hangar in the southern part of Easter Bay Airport, the hatch is locked until the player completes Learning to Fly.
 * Spawns at Verdant Meadows after completing mission "Learning to Fly", in a small hangar east to the AC tower.
 * Occasionally seen being flown in the sky by invisible NPCs. They will not return fire if attacked with aircraft-mounted weapons or jetpack-pistol.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * The Rustler is first fighter plane of 3D universe for both real-life and in-game chronologically.
 * The Rustler is one of the common planes that might crash randomly in the environment.
 * The Rustler is oddly considered as a civilian/trainer aircraft, despite it still is a fighter plane that has weaponry.
 * Like other planes that tilt upwards when parked (such as the Stuntplane, Nevada and Cropduster) the plane will move backwards when the Cars drive on water cheat is enabled.
 * The Beta version of the Rustler had a different nose which makes the plane looks more like a P-51 Mustang and less like a Curtis P-40 Warhawk.
 * In the Vice Point Mall there is a Rustler suspended near the Ammu-Nation in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
 * The black and white stripes on the Rustler may indicate that rustlers were indeed used in WW2 in the game's universe due to these stripes signifying Allied Aircraft during D-Day.
 * Occasionally the Rustler will spawn with a silver-white body, red nose, wing tips and tail. This appears vastly similar to the design of P-51 Mustangs nicknamed "Red Tails" flown by the Tuskegee Airmen.

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