The way I see it is that if a an 'almost' WWII area plane is added with superior performance, most of the MA will fly it. Most people don't have the skill or patience to achieve even moderate succes in an early war plane. People want to have fun and most people have more fun when they can win.
When was the first time the F-86 Sabre flew? 1947? Why not add that too? Before you know it people will be wanting F-22's with ASRAAMs. Ok, that's taking it too far but you get the point.
I like to fly in an environment where historical opponents are pitched against each other but alas, when I can find time to play, the CT counter says mostly '1'. So I go to the MA and up something I can get a few kills in and survive every now and then. So indeed adding more early war planes is just catering to some (vocal) enthousiasts, not to the majority which just plays 'Quake with old planes'. Maybe if HTC offered relaxed realism and 3 times standard ammo even more people would play... sadly.
To go to the other extreme, The Finns used, in WWII, completely obsolete Bristol Bulldog bi-plane fighters. They even got kills with them. For that reason alone it is more appropriate for the plane set than the F8F, how much I like that plane or not.