Hello, my father was the "engine and guns" man of Luigi Gorrini, one of the top aces of italian Regia Aeronautica, serving in the 85 squadriglia of 3 stormo. He always told me that his pilot told him that the english and amirican planes were not so good good, the SPitfire itself...good to dive shoot and fly away. They had less handling and manouvrability than the italian planes (Fiat Cr 42 "the best of all biplanes", the Macchi Mc 200, the Macchi 202, and the Macchi 205) and that the pilots were not able to make aerobatics. Most of italians pilots, in fact, were much more experienced than the english and the americans, because they had fought in the Spanish civil war. You can read everywhere that "the italian planes were undergunned", but I had the canche to talk with generale Giulio Cesare Giuntella that shot down two english planes over the desert and He told me that the italian breda 12,7 impressed Adolf Galland in Belgium when they showed him that the bullets from that gun could hole steel and fire a tank of fire put behind, while the weak bullets from english planes were stopped even by the parachute, when they had the chance to fight spitfires and hurricanes them over the Channel. The Macchi 205 veltro was better than the spitfires (i read a very interesting text on this site confirming that) but the P 51 pilots too feared the 205 at least at low heights. I think it was the best of fighter plane with propeller, at least in Europe. But the director of the italian museum ot air force (Museo storico dell'Aeronautica militare di Vigna di Valle), very well informed, told me that the Germans tested the italian fighter planes (they know that they were better than theirs) of the "5" series, Macchi 205, Reggiane 2005 and Fiat 55. They wanted to chose a single type plane to produce TO REPLACE Me 109 and Focke Wulf 190. And they chose the Fiat 55: the superb plane was, for them, THE BEST FIGHTER. And they were not short of excellent planes.
English historians tell that the SPitfire was the best defensive fighter, and the americans that the Mustang was the best offensive. The history is written by the winners and the winner people likt to believe to their lies.