There was an excellent show on discovery channel tonight called Greatest Military Clashes where they compared the Tiger and the Sherman. And then the Spitfire and 109 during the BOB.
Some of the really interesting stuff (imo) was when they went to bovington and took a tiger, and a sherman and ran them along side each other...showing not only their manoverability, but also the differing turret speeds etc. They discussed the firefly etc, and then went to a testing range and took a plate of sherman armour, and simulated an 88 hit. At the end they took both tanks and simulated a typical engagement using 4 shermans vs. the lone tiger.
The spit/109 was interesting when they took 2 vets and sat them in opposition a/c. Interestingly enough they both complained how the other aircraft would be extremly difficult to bail out of. They then also went to a testing range, and used aluminium targets the same thickness as spitfire/109 wings and used a browning .303 machinegun, and german 20mm cannon to show the firepower differences. The show concluded that both a/c were virtually equal, and that the real difference were pilots on the day. Although both suffered fundamental flaws, the 109's range - and surprisingly enough, the spitfires fuel tank position.
Tronsky