[Jim727]

Of all the WWII warbirds I lust to fly, first is the FW-190 (and the wings stayed on them just fine). For choice two, I'd add the P-40 - because of it's AVG heritage more than any other reason.

Have a friend who flew Recce Bf-109s. He mentioned that escaping a Spitfire was not all that hard. Because the 109 had fuel injection and the Spit had carbs, a pushover would fuel starve the Spit or a sharp 90deg. left bank and pull would cause the Spit to lose some RPM until the carb caught up. Every aircraft has its strengths and weaknesses. A pilot needed to know his opponent.

For 'wing' separation you're probably thinking of one of the Bf-109 models (E, I think) when Messerschmitt removed the horizontal stab struts and the structure wasn't strong enough so some of the tails separated under heavy load. Fixed with the subsequent revision. There was also a German Mosquito which was, like the RAF Mosquito, made of wood but had serious problems with the laminating glue. Didn't work out so well.