[drgondog]

It seems a bit silly to discount Spit IX performance against LW in 1945. The LW essentially 'stripped' of tactical mass after mid January and most units sent to East.

Relatively speaking, the Spit IX may have benn slower than the Fw 190D or the Me 109K, but its performance in a dogfight would have 'just fine' even against pilots of comparable training and skills.

Making a basis for the conversation, that the later model German aircraft simply avoided' the Spit IX 'because they could' doesn't seem very convincing. LW fighters in the West were largely avoiding Allied fighters when they could since late 1943, to conserve their core force structure for the Bombers.

When any of the late model conventional LW fifhters were pressed into tactical engagements against Allied ground forces they were vulnerable to Spit IX, P-51B/C/D, Tempest, P-47's and P-38's. Success on either side usually depended on the tactical position of one force over another - not clear superiority of one fighter over another.

What the Spit XIV brought to the table was equivalent speed to Fw 190D and 109K for most tactical engagement profiles and superior manueverablity (including over P-51/P-47 and P-38) - but it wasn't that great a performance boost over the Spit IX, that a Spit IX was in 'dire peril'.