Cap - I was in NJ for almost 16 years - lived in Morris County (Rockaway/Denville) and commuted to Teterboro everyday on I-80. In Wisconsin now - around here a traffic jam is when there's farm tractor on the road (one of those monster dual-wheeled beasts that's so big it can't pull over!).
A-5s were still operational in early-to-mid 1944, but they were certainly supplanted by later variants. Gotta remember, only the A-6 and A-8 saw any serious production numbers after the A-5. It was hard to place a specific date set on this particular scenario because we had overlaps in the planeset - no one's fault, we simply didn't have the specific variants to make it all-inclusive.
The 190A-5 was relatively common in the middle part of 1943, supplanted by the A-6 in the fall, and the A-8 in early 1944. Most of these earlier airframes were hand-me-downs as newer airframes arrived, or eventually, relegated to training units.
As to the skins, with any historical scenario, you have two choices, develop a multi-aircraft scenario around the aircraft you have available and not worry about the skins, or narrow the aircraft choices and try to find specific skins that represent groups that met in combat. Its not an easy task unless you have a knowledge of specific unit histories or have access to that information.
As it applies to the game, I love having to determine if that black spec is a friend or foe. It adds an element to the game that is far more realistic than a red tag hovering overhead, and telling me how close he really is. It also gives you a few more seconds in pressing the attack, especially if you don't use tracers (I switch them on and off depending on what I'm flying). At least in AvA, you know what planeset is available and you can make your decisions based largely on the wing profile or shape of the aircraft. At least in my case, by the time I'm close enough to make out the color scheme, I've already determined what kind of aircraft I'm facing...errr...getting shot down by!
