After flying in ver 1.0 for the first time today, I noticed some changes made to the FM.
The two biggest things that I noticed was that E retention seems generally less and the Spit IX seemed to have lost alot of acceleration. I have no "Hard Numbers" to toss out, just my feel from flying alot in the AH Beta program.
This got me to thinking.
1) The Spit was previously overmodeled for acceleration
2) The Spit is being toyed with, as the 109 was tweaked, prior to the release of 109 variants
My current research more or less informs me that the 109G-2 and the Spit IX should be fairly equivelent reqarding acceleration. Somewhere I remember reading that for AH the 109G-2 had the DB 605A (Non MW50) engine and the Spit had the F.IX RR Merlin 61 engine.
109G-2Engine - 1475hp V12
Empty weight - 5,687lb
Max speed @ 22,640ft - 386mph
Climb to 18,700ft - 6.0min
Spit F.IXEngine - 1565hp V12
Empty weight - 5,800lb
Max speed @ 25,000ft - 408mph
Climb to 20,000ft - 6.7min
[Source: Aircraft of WWII by Stewart Wilson cr 1998]
For correlation: (.3min is ~18sec)
109Climb to 18,700ft - 6.0min
Climb to 20,000ft - 6.4min
SpitClimb to 18,700ft - 6.3min
Climb to 20,000ft - 6.7min
(I can make no correlations for speed comparisons)
I do want to get tied up in the numbers, but from the above data I can draw the following conclusions comparing the 109G-2 vs the Spit F.IX
1) Climb rate is pretty equal, therefore acceleration should be pretty equal
2) The Spit has the potential to be somewhat faster in top speed
For AH, I am not sure how either climb rate or acceleration are or can be measured for comparitive acuracy. However, my feel of the two aircraft tells me that for ver 1.0 the 109G-2 climbs and accelerates more readily than Spit IX.
E retention seems better for the 109G-2 than the Spit IX as well, but this is only subjectional on my part.
Feel free to flame!

Mino