I'm not trying or clinging to anything, I'm only stating the facts apparent on their own.
The A8 has lots of firepower yep. So does the B25H, and just like the 25H the A8 has significant enough agility handicap for that firepower to be really limited in effectiveness. Why not mount a 5" naval gun while you're at it? Same story with roll rate. Roll where? Not very far when you've got such a limited envelope. Zoom? The A8's climb is average at best. Engine power is also mediocre. It drops like a brick but unlike the P-47 it can't use its flaps to really knife fight, so you're really in a one way street with the A-8, and the street points down.
1 times out of 3 meaning the 3 different gun packages.
The 152 doesn't rip its wings off any more than the P38 is incapable of diving because of compression.
Radiator damage, sure. Really minor thing unless you fly into bullets like rain.
As for high and mighty. I think you just don't know who you're talking to. I'm not interested in who, only what. The A8 is a terrible plane. Absolutely terrible for luftwaffles like me, who just don't have anything to compete in the MAs with the spit dweebs. Just awful MA performance. If you want to prove me wrong, start there. The Spitfires we have aren't even running at their historical best. Even with a 190A-9 and an overboosted A-5, or maybe an overboosted D-9 and some franken 152H with no GM1 ballast, the allied dweebs have 150 octane which basically nulls the aforementioned 190 bonuses. The only luftwaffle ride that in my mind can stand toe to toe with the late war allied plane set in an MA style fight is the 1.98 ata 109K-4.
So that's my full opinion on the matter right there. You think the A-8 is all that, and I think it's not; and it's got nothing to do with taste. And I'm not the only one with this opinion. Ask Urchin for his opinion on it. And all things considered, it's really not a matter of opinion and you really don't need to be a genius to appreciate that the A-8 is just way down on the performance ladder in an MA environment. It's jus bad, period. And so is the 152, to a lesser degree. The D9 can run around like stink but unless you're flying it in a pack of 3-6, that's not much use. The A-8 can probably manage something similar, but given its extra quick entropy and limited agility (worst sustained turn in the whole game!), it needs even more numbers.
There's no way to spin this one. The A-8 is just one of the worst planes to fight in, in an MA environment. Absolutely nothing to do with taste. If you really believe it's not, then show it to me, I'm all ears and eyes. Let's see evidence.