US standout aircraft: Brewster Buffalo (fast, turns well, climbs well), P-36 (amazing turner practically rivalling the Zero but 109's can run from it if they're smart), pretty much all of the P-38's with the P-38K having ridiculous performance, P-51C (very fast, great energy retention, ridiculously unhistorical docile stall and low speed stability), A-36 (basically a P-51 and the scourge of EC2), P-51D-30 (fast, superb energy retention, bullsjit docile stall behaviour), P-51H (god in prop form more or less). P-47N/M (requires discipline but untouchable when flown right), any F4U (they all turn well, dive well, are incredibly fast and the F4U4 also climbs very well too).
British standout aircraft: Hurricane Mk1 (fast enough, excellent turning characteristics, not amazing in the vertical), Spitfire Mk I/IIb (some of the best fighters of their tier, faster than people think and climb well, turning is exceptional IF you teach yourself how to fly it. Beware of overheating issues however), Spitfire Mk V (actually faster on the deck than the 109F's but can't match their energy retention, the nicest Spitfires of all of them to fly and no more overheating like crazy, what they can't outrun they out turn), Spitfire Mk IX (much more powerful feeling Mk V, isn't so nice to fly and will bite you if you're not careful but will still out turn most and has an excellent climb rate. Not the fastest of its tier but fast enough), M.B.5 (ridiculously quick EC4 aircraft pretending it's EC3..) Typhoon Mk1a (VERY fast for EC2 once it gets up to speed, not bad in a turn either but very slow to roll and 109's out accelerate you), Typhoon Mk 1b/L (still rolls like Gemma Collins rolls out of bed but my god it's fast! Excellent armament and gunsight too with superb straight line energy retention), Tempest (even quicker than the Typhoon and the roll rate is fixed, excellent in zoom climbs and the standard climb rate isn't bad at all neither! Also can win turn fights with G-6's, G-14's and K-4's if you're smart but beware the G-10.) The Mighty Mosquitoes! (both are fantastic aircraft but nobody flies them properly, the Mollinsquito if you keep your speed up can outrun the 109's trying to kill you on the deck and the gun butchers AI tanks making it an amazing asset for your team, the FB Mosquito if you keep your speed up feasts on its opposition barring the 190 which is barely quicker than it, only use slashing attacks as she doesn't retain energy in turns well). HORNET (overpowered perfection, doesn't turn well so don't bother but you don't need to. I think it's actually even faster than the P-51H and climbs like an absolute demon, from experience you can toy with multiple 109's at once and beat all of them in the vertical.. same goes for the dreaded F4U's.) Griffon Spitfires (the Mk XIV is an excellent aircraft that is actually more user friendly to fly than the Merlins, it's fast, dives well, climbs well and turns well. This basically goes for all Griffons but they get faster as you go. Brilliant planes).
Italy: CR42 (fast for a biplane and turns well, unlike most biplanes this one has some teeth and those two Bredas can hilariously blow aircraft apart). Macchi C.200 (turns very well on par with the Hurricane although it swaps turn radius for sustained turn, rolls well and if you have enough room can dive to over 500mph!) Re2000/2001 (Turns on a penny although you have to use combat flaps, feels slower than the C.200 to me though and overheats like a xxxxx.. avoid and instead focus on..) C.202! (Turns similarly to the early 109's but rolls considerably better, also far better in a dive and can go beyond 500mph.. In EC2!, fast enough in a straight line and good climb rate. Good altitude performance too so you can munch on Russians, excellent energy retention and she's tough as well. 2x Bredas stupidly evaporate aircraft as well). C.205 (Fast, climbs very well, dives very well, turns well and has great energy retention genuinely better than the 109's in my opinion yet nobody flies them). C.205N2 (Very situational plane, 3x MG-151's and twin Bredas costs her some mobility but still turns very well at speed, still dives well and the climb performance is good, shreds bombers and is and exceptional boom and zoom aircraft). G.56 (pretty fast, great climb, great turn, great dive, only the co*ckpit view lets it down.. another slept on aircraft).
Haven't flown for Germany for a while but in short all of the 109's are excellent, the 190A's can be in a difficult spot against P-63's etc but also excellent, the 190D's aren't as agile as the A's but have superb energy retention.. they happily sit beside the Tempest/P-51. I won't personally vouch for the He-112's as I find them miserable but many do well with them.
Russia: Long gone are the days of Russian Bias but there's still some great planes.
The I-153's might as well have Ace Combat flight models, turn on a penny and can prop hang seemingly forever.. interestingly the CR42 in reality actually turned better from what I've read but hoo boy not in War Thunder! The LaGG's aren't as bad as what you might imagine and the earlier models are fast for their tier with a nose mounted cannon, the later LaGG's with the slats have a great instantaneous turn too. The LaGG3-66 is also rather agile and can for a few turns stick with the 109's. The La-5FN is a rocket in EC3 and climbs well too, not bad turn performance but be careful of high speed lockups. The La-7 is good being essentially a more powerful La-5FN but I don't find it has stand out performance as such. The Yak-1 is a great little aircraft but the standout Yak for me is the Yak1b.. stupidly good plane than accelerates very well... turns ridiculously well (almost better than the Spitfire) and is in general a bit of a nuisance to fight.
As for China/Sweden/Israel/Japan/France there's plenty better people to give advice, haven't flown for Japan in ages and don't care about the rest barring early France which I've haven't touched in ages. The MB.152 is a brilliant plane though.
