"I'd bet that most pilots would prefer to fly a Spitfire for a display, but if going to war they would pick the Mustang."
Only if they wanted to lose!
Range apart, the Spit IX (and subsequent Marks) had it all over the P-51D.
Manoeuvrability, armament (20-mm over 0.50 cal, please!), handling and battle damage tolerance.
The best US dogfighter of the War? The F6F Hellcat. How can I be so sure?
The SETP ran an interesting comparison between P-47, P-51, F4U and F6F, which were evaluated by modern TPs and the Mustang fared surprisingly poorly, with the unpredictable and vicious departure characteristics attracting negative comment, and the aircraft was rated as being a poor gunnery platform, too.
I'd kill for a photocopy of the article, or better yet a scan.....
"Couldn`t We create a hybrid of the two? Imagine that."
You don't need to imagine - the Spiteful was a Spit with a Mustang type laminar flow wing.