I have some plans for these planes, and some cutaway views. I have cutaways for every one of the planes in this game, except the Japanese designs.
The Me-109 design has exposed water coolers in under-wing fairings (we knew that), the oil tank is in front of the cockpit in a position that would be behind the windscreen from the pilot's perspective, The radio is aft of the cockpit, about mid-way back to the tail. The pilot sit on top of the fuel tank, although he has personal seat armor of 7mm thickness, and 8mm thickness armor sealing him off from the upper rear area with a piece attached to the canopy hatch. Behind the fuel tank is the air bottles (oxygen), so at high alt the first few shots should make him diving for air (and radio-less), the next few send him burning to earth. A canopy shot would most likely hit the oil tank, too, but also the nose guns would be effected as the magazine is in the same area. The pilot is relatively safe from a rear shot, though, and would most likely be wounded in deflection engagements (if then), but a sustained burst would get him even from the rear.
The Spitfire has nearly the same arrangement with the radio and oxygen tanks aft of the cockpit, but the fuel tanks are forward of the dash (main tank above the centerline, and the auxiliary below. The oil tank is below the engine in the chin, while the radiator is under the wing. The Spitfire should suffer from the same problems as the Mustang in ground attack.
The Focke-Wulfe 190 is heavily armored aft of the cockpit. The pilot, though, will get burned if the tank beneath his seat is punctured and lights, and another tank is under his feet. The master compass is in the rear fuselage, which I find interesting. The oil cooler and tank sits right behind the cowling fan (behind the prop), but that is protected somewhat by a 5mm thick armor nosering piece. The radio is aft of the cockpit armor which consists of 7mm personal seat armor and 14mm former/bulkhead armor. I very seriously doubt that any FW pilot was afraid to HO anything (GV's included).
The P51 Mustang plumbs the oil and radiator coolant to aft and beneath the cockpit. The radio and oxygen bottles are kept there too. Fuel is stored in tanks within the wing, and beneath the radio deck. The oil tank is forward of the cockpit, so you can see the similarities with the 109 (they even look alike in silhouette.
The P-38 is such a complicated piece of machinery that it surely would not be able to sustain much damage. The engine nacelles are stuffed with vital equipment. The armor is confined to areas aft of the tank areas in the wing and aft of the pilots' seat. The engnie coolant radiators are half-way down the booms to the tail. Between the cockpit and booms are the main and auxiliary fuel tanks. The engine nacelles are surrounded by vital plumbing to supercharger, aft radiator, oil intercooler, and fuel tanks. The radio and batteries are stored above the center sections fuel surge tank and aft of the pilot's seat armor. Like the P-51 the armor is 1/2" thick. The oxygen bottles are stored forward and to the side of the cockpit. The tail section is a shear-webbed d-tube construction with light-stringer reinforcement and five spars! The tail should take more damage and survive then we have seen.
Well, that's enough for now. It seems to me that HTC has done a very nice job to date. There are certain things that bother me, such as the way the tail on the pony tends to get knocked off so easily, but I have alway assumed it was sound related and I wasn't hearing all of the rounds striking my ride.
Go figure!
