My suggestions:
F4U-1 - Poor acceleration and climb, but great at high speed, high roll rate. Superior rudder. Best flaps after P-38. Owns the P-51 in a stall fight. A 190A-5 or A-8 can't hope to shake it off its six. Fast on the deck (as fast or faster than La-5FN). Excellent zoom climb. Never fly with more than 50% gas internally. Take a drop tank for longer flights. Tricky to land. Always plant the tailwheel on landing. Best to stall it onto runway. Otherwise, prone to ground looping.
P-47 (any model) For very good vertical performance, try the -40. For best turning, try the -11. Like the F4U, take the minimum internal gas and supplement with belly tank. You have a 6 gun, 267 rds/gun ammo option. Taking this really does help performance, but if you take just six guns you lose a lot of hitting power and the small ammo load doesn't give you any ammo to waste. Decent rudder, good flaps, very stable right down to stall speed. Average acceleration for -40, below average for D-11. Keep it fast around turn fighters, but don't hesitate to turn for a bit. Just learn when it's time to jump out and get some lateral seperation. Up above 25k, it is probably the best fighter in the game. Down on the deck, you need to use good SA and always have an egress route in mind. With full flaps out the Jug will maneuver far better than most would ever expect.
Ki-61: Poor acceleration and climb. However, excellent high-speed handling and pretty good turning down to 150 mph. Below 150 it tends to wallow. Good range. Average rudder. Excellent guns. Get some alt (10-15k), and use its great high-speed dive to chase down the speed demons. Same ammo load as a SpitIX, but the cannons cycle faster, meaning the guns will be empty sooner. Cannons are Japanese version of German MG151. Max speed is under 370 mph level. It will out-run Spits and Zeros on the deck given a Co-E start. Not especially stable at low speeds. Not a good stall-fighter, only average at best. Manage your E and this is a rewarding aircraft.
F6F-5: Does everything well, if not the best in any category. Turns well, but the flaps are not nearly as effective as the F4U. Average stall fighter. One of the best at 200-250 mph. Average rudder, average roll rate. Hides E better than any other fighter. Very good zoom climb and dive acceleration. Quite durable. Same guns as P-51D. Same bomb and rocket load as P-51D. Average outward visibility. Poor to rear, very good over the nose. Somewhat prone to ground looping, Get the tail down fast when landing. Not very fast on deck (about 320 mph). Overall, a very balanced if not very fast fighter.
La-5FN: Everything the La-7 is, but slower. Only two cannon, but two is enough once you learn the ballistics. Excellent climb, great ailerons, but average rudder. Short legs, small bomb load. Great defensive fighter, inferior to only its younger brother. Doesn't carry the dweeb label of La-7.
Yak-9T: Inferior to 9U in every flight category, but still capable of holding its own. 37mm cannon is a one ping wonder. With just 32 cannon rounds, you must learn to be efficient. one MG supplements the big cannon. Kills soft skin GVs with single hit. Tears buffs to shreds. Similar low-level performance to F6F-5. Poor stability below 150 mph, lousy choice for stall fighting. Challenging to survive in, but equally rewarding when used well.
My regards,
Widewing