Thanks for the welcome!
Well, I had to begin somewhere as a member of this forum. 8)
I am firmly convinced history of WWII, as it has been written, is full of misconceptions, preconceived ideas, biases, manipulations and lies.
Many think the soviets produced only crappy aircraft and it was not like that. Their pilots, with a few exceptions, were poorly trained and took off by the thousands to never return throughout the entire conflict, but they made excellent planes (not the IL-2 though, which happened to be precisely a piece of crap).
The P-51, for instance, provides a clear example of what I am trying to say here.
See it in dozens of webpages, books and magazines: "the P-51 wholly outclassed the Bf109". Are they serious?
The issue is depicted in such dramatic fashion, readers can really get the vision a Bf109 stood no chance, at all, against the P-51.
There is no doubt the P-51 made one of the greatest planes of WWII -and aviation history-, but to affirm it was vastly superior to anything the Germans fielded against it is misleading.
Let´s talk a bit about Erich Hartmann. That he was a pilot perhaps of a different breed, yes.
Still, skilfulness has its limits -same thing for that random thing known as "luck"-. Hartmann, an eastern front based pilot during the whole conflict, shot down 7 P-51´s over Romania, all in a Bf109G (IIRC, it was a G-10).
All the skill, courage and luck of a pilot can certainly mean nothing when complete inadequacy of his plane is part of the equation.
And that was just Hartmann. Many pilots in Bf109G´s and K´s sent P-51´s to bit the ground.
I digress: the P-51 was a great plane, but as any other plane in the conflict, it was excellent at some things and not so good at others.
Do an intense web search and if you find any site where the cons of the P-51 are detailed, then I will bow down and will give you anything.
Why?
Because, so far, I have never ever read on any cons about the P-51. It was "perfect".
However, veterans have enlightened me: it had its ugly things, which showed in the skies of Europe.
I stick to my conclusion: I could never tell which fighter was the best of WWII.
Cheers!