Daff, we certainly agree on one thing

the sillyness of the F4U-1C. Personally I don't mind it (think its an easy kill), but it did bring alot of ill will into the arena.
Now, I too care about "historical" as I am intensely interested in Scenarios (My work in Aces High player run "Jokers Low" scenario team in a good indication

) . And for that I agree the "D" model is better. But Scenario's/Historical Setups are one thing, and our (admittedly) fantasy arena is quite another. I don't see a reason not to include the "N" in an arena thats filled with other planes that weren't historically significant.
My fear is that if a "D" model was produced first, the "N" would most likely never see the light of day, (mostly due to cries of "Uber Bird", even though it is not). But if you do a "N" first for arena play, its highly likely that we would see a "D" for scenario's and other historical events very quickly.
As too the "N"'s climb, you know thats not quite the whole story

It climbs like a "D", due to all that added fuel capacity. Load it pound for pound with fuel similar to a "M" and I expect to see similar climb rates.
Karnak, not true. Both the F4U-1C and the N1K2-J are both primarily 1945 aircraft. The Cannon Corsair first entered combat during the Okinawa campaign (mid 45), while the N1K2 only had 7 prototypes as late as June 1944, and didn't really see appreciable combat until the Phillipines campaign.
And your comparing the P-47N (1,500 produced) to the J7W1 Shinden (2 prototypes),
the Ta152 (48 produced), and the Spit 21 (120 produced)??? Come on... roughly speaking there were as many P-47N's in combat as there were 190D9's (700) and Spit XIV's (957)
combined! Two aircraft you have vocally advocated to be included in the game (and I would like to see them as well

).
Gatt, I never said that the C.205 was an uber plane. I said that it wasn't "representative". If I had to select a "historically representative" Italian aircraft I would be much more likely to choose the C.202 or C.200 which were both built in much larger numbers and participated in more campaigns and more battles. Of the 260 C.205's produced, only 177 were completed before the armistice, the rest being done while the factory was under German control. But I do agree that the C.205 was the right choice for AH, no arguements there.
All well, enough rambling

I still want the "N" though, with a followup variant "D".

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"