Great idea! :)

My point is that what should be given first preference (in an ideal world) is beyond the scope of Il2 for one reason or another: NG planes because of the NG case, British heavies because they are 1) difficult to make, 2) involve night fighting (which some players enjoy, others don't). Here comes in what we could term the enjoyment factor, and in this respect I would vote for the second rank (seen historically), that is, flyable Blenheims and planes like the D.520.

Reading a book about the jabo staffel over britain, I was surprised by a picture of a prbsble Mustang P-51B with apparently 2 .50's under the nose.?

Obviously, any NG planes are dead to IL2. I can't see any way around it other than mods, or 1c/Ubisoft selling the IL2 franchise to another owner and then that new owner paying the "trademark trolls".

FWIW, some of the earliest British heavy bombers (Short Stirling) were used for daylight precision bombing raids, based on the mistaken doctrine that "the bomber will always get through.

Later marks of the Lancaster were also designed for daylight raids over Japan, and, of course, 617 "Dambuster" squadron used their specially modified Lancasters to make daylight raids using "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam" bombs.

So, it's not completely unrealistic to have RAF heavies flying in the daytime.

One additional criteria that I didn't mention is "ubiquitousness". That is, how many different countries used a particular plane, and how many different theaters was it used in?

By that criteria, the Blenheim really needs to be flyable - as a Finnish and UK/RAAF plane - because it was used during the war by Australia, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Romania, Turkey, UK, and Yugoslavia. And, it was used on every front. So, I'd put it at the top of my list of "planes to make flyable."

The D.520 is on my personal "top 5" wish list, although it really wasn't that important after the Battle of France. That said, it was used in limited numbers by Italy and a several minor Axis nations, and saw action on the Eastern Front (Bulgaria), Middle Eastern Front (Syria, Morocco), Italy, and Western Front (France). It was also the best French fighter, and second only to the MS.406/410 series in numbers, so meets the "critically important to the national war effort" and "built in large numbers" criteria.

Is the Spitfire Mk XVI or XIV possible for a future update?

Possible, yes. There are no legal restrictions on including it, and there's plenty of data on performance, cockpit arrangements, etc. should someone wish to make it.

Likely? Who knows. The Spit Mk XIV exists as a mod, but I don't know how good it is, and whether the modder who made it would be willing to share his work.

XVI makes no sense, its just a IX with Packard engine. Same performance.
On the other hand, XIV would be sweet! I really miss this beautiful plane.

Guns under the nose would make it a Mustang Mk I, so more like the P-51A (with different armament of course) rather than the P-51B as it had the Allison engine rather than the Merlin.

Tks on the insight.

FWIW, the Allison engine Mustangs which saw combat were:

Mustang Mk I - 2 x 0.50 cal BMG in nose, 4 x 0.30 cal BMG & 2 x .50 cal BMG in wings (mounted with .50 caliber between the .30 calibers in each wing). No bombs or drop tanks. 620 built, most sent to RAF.

Mustang Mk IA/P-51 Mustang - improved engine, 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannons in wings. 93 built, mostly used by RAF.

A-36 Apache/Invader/Mustang - improved engine, strengthened wing, dive flaps, 6 x .50 cal BMG - 2 in nose, 4 in wings, hard points for 2 x 500 lb. bombs, plumbing for 2 x 75 (later 85 gallon) drop tanks. Used in combat in the MTO (Morocco, Italy), and CBI Theater (Burma, China). 500 built.