"Reading histories of fighters like the Bf / Me 109 and Spitfire - that was all about the most powerful (& reliable) engines on the smallest airframes."
They all got bigger, and heavier, and more complex, _including_, interestingly, the FW-190. What was intersting about the Bearcat was that it, like, the F-5, was an attempt to go 180 degrees in the other direction.