Most of the complaints about the Spitfire's range forget that it was designed as an interceptor and range wasn't important, or even a consideration. All that mattered was to get off the ground as quickly as possible, climb to altitude as quickly as possible, and intercept approaching enemy forces. That was it, nothing else. Range didn't matter.
In a similar vein, people complain about the Lightning's range, or lack of it. In modern parlance, the English Electric P1, P1A and P1B would be "technology demonstrators", and never intended to be production fighters. Thanks to Sandys' idiotic decisions, (to be fair, based on genuinely held beliefs about guided missiles based on personal late WWII experience), it/they had to be turned into a fighter as they'd already flown and they were the only option. Interceptor again was the best that could be expected. "Fuel critical on take-off" I believe was the standing joke on early variants.