I realize the spit has a very popular history, but after flying them a few times in this arena, and more often shooting many of them out of the HTC sky. I don't believe the spits have ever had a real advantage over the enemy at any time. I put them more in the class of P-39's and Zero's do to their light weight design. The spit could turn, but turn fighting is only good if your opponent is a newbie and drains off his energy. As for the elliptical wing being superior, I don't think so. The elliptical wing was designed (according to a History Channel episode) to house 4-30 cal mg's internally and possibly wing tanks. However, I may be wrong about the wing tank reason/4-30 cals.
Then again, the spit pilots did get the British chicks.