Spits always come to mind. Turn like the devil, solid acceleration, climb, etc.
The PonyD is a fan favorite for many reasons. I'm sure most new sticks climb into it because it's possibly thee iconic ride of WW2. Then they discover 'speed is life' and learn to runaway.
The La-7 seems to be the ride of preference for journeymen fliers. They have the basic idea of ACM down but not good enough to thrive though they take the training wheels off and climb into the La-7. Likely, they know how to kill lots of PonyDs and are tired of the PonyD getting on the deck and outrunning their Spit. So they climb out of the Spit and into the PonyD.
At some point they seem to migrate into the Brew (AKA F/A-18 Superhornet.) Has a zoom climb rate of deck to 7k in under 3 seconds, dives without losing control surfaces up to speeds in excess of 650mph and has a sustained climb rate of around 5,000/fpm. Or, something like that.
Then they get sophisticated, and exotic. This is where the Ki-84 shows up. Great climb rate, turns better than the Spit they flew just two months ago. Fast enough in a dive to catch any unsuspecting PonyD. Out fights the La-7 (which they deny they ever flew) and is almost good enough to handle the dreaded Superhornet. Because Jap twirlybirds have a reputation of turning into Roman candles they feel manly, like a base jumper or something, pretending the Ki-84 is a risky proposition. Forgetting that it actual has both self-sealing fuel tanks and Skuzzy did the damage modeling like the the Jug family of armored aerocars. They feel its almost like a Zero with training wheels and bigger aleirons.
I think I covered all of the major violators of faith and trust. Now if you'll forgive me. I'm getting my bag of potato chips, my scarf, about to strap on my Fw-190A5, climb to 35,000 feet with my drop tank on and begin looking for birds on autoclimb while the noob is AFK changing their diapers.
boo
