I don't play very much anymore, but last night I went to try the AvA's current setup. However somebody "won" the war just as I got into my Mossie's cockpit. Seeing as the AvA doesn't play friendly with winning the war I jumped over to the MA. Located a field near some action and chose my direction to take off from. I expected to find myself in a Mossie again, but for some reason I was in a Spitfire Mk XIV. The last time I recall using the Mk XIV was months ago, but what the heck it had full fuel and a drop tank, so off I went.
The fighting was not really much to speak of. I found myself with another Rook or two against a bunch of reds, two Bf109s (G-14 and K-4), two Fw190s, three Spitfires (a IX and two XVIs), an La-7 and an A-20. Well, I pretty much suck and wasn't able to generate shots on the reds very much, though I did put holes into the Bf109G-14 where after he was out of the fight. Pilot wound I suspect based on where I hit him, we were near an enemy field so he would easily have made it away. The difference for me was that through all of this I was surviving, even when I was down to being the last Rook in the area that I could see I was still able to survive, though I was off to one side by that time, with just the two Spit XVIs close below me. I engaged the Spits and took some light hits that did no more than punch holes in my wings, but I was unable to get angles on them, and then 30 seconds into the fight with the two XVIs my WEP ran out. I thought that this was not a good thing and wasn't inclined to try using a heavier fighter against two XVIs that now had a higher E state. Having about 3000ft of altitude to work with I went into a gentle dive and just left the two Mk XVIs behind, even though I was on MIL. They gave the usual long range parting shots, but scored no hits.
It was nice not to be the focus of suicidal enemy attacks trying to kill the perk plane. As for the Spit XIV, it is very heavy compared to other Spits, but also markedly more survivable I think. If I'd flown my Mossie into that I have no doubt I'd have been shot down well before my WEP ran out, and because of my throttle use I was probably engaged heavily for seven or eight minutes before WEP ran out.