Factors affecting flying qualities of WW2 fighters may not be a firm basis for making aerodynamic assumptions relative to today's certification efforts. If the research of the handling of the WW2 fighters is out of interest, excellent, but it is what it is, and the data is there, there's no more to be had. I expect that a lot of WW2 airplane development was rushed. Although detailed investigation of flying qualities was certainly made, airplanes were certainly put into service with handling defects, so when improved, improvement could be noticed. When dealing with airplanes of such high power to weight to wingloading ratios, I think the rules diverge somewhat. Again, aside from a few military trainer types, there not much development going on in the realm of 1000+HP single propeller planes.
In terms of changing the station location of the prop on an otherwise same plane, my closest experience would be certification test flying I have done on a deHavilland Beaver, the Beaver with the 9 3/4" engine mount extension, and the Turbo Beaver, all of which I flew a floatplanes. In each case, though I was specifically looking for differences in handling resulting from the change in propeller station location, I was unable to notice a difference I could attribute to this. All three versions fly delightfully (just the Turbo Beaver smells of exhaust in the cockpit!)