[RichardH]

The Spitfire Mk.XIV is over half a ton heavier than the IX, in fact its empty weight is about as much as the takeoff weight of a late 109G/K, of course it's not as maneuvrable as the earlier marks! Plus the immense power of the Griffon makes for a lot of torque thus making it harder to control and handle.

It's funny when people assume that with the XIV they would get a faster IX when it's clearly not. Was it Eric Brown or Johnny Johnson who said that the XIV "wasnt a Spitfire" anymore!?

If you are searching for a turn fighter, pick the IX because if you're forcing the XIV into a turn fight you obviously missed the point of the aircraft.

True, but the Spit (regardless of mark) was always more maneuverable in the horizontal plane compared to the 190 and 109.. Fair enough, some versions of the 190 such as the A2, A3 or A4 could climb better than the Spit Mk.V , but obviously in a turn-fight, the Spit would have beaten it quite easily..

But as you said, expecting a XIV to behave like a Mark V or IX regarding turning ability is stupid.