So much depends on what the "job at hand" was. The P 39, for example was deemed useless by the Western Allies because of it's lack of high altitude performance, but many Soviet pilots preferred it to any Russian built fighter, since it was so well suited to the type of combat on that front.

Yes I pretty much hate going up against any thing Russian with a good Russian in it hehehe. Aerocobra included. If you read any books like Helmut Lipfert's witch is pretty much fighting fighting fighting many of them are twisting turning buckets of sweat making battles and 50% of the time the guns miss fire. Very exiting stuff. Plus they're always on the move never staying in one place.

Not if you consider that one of the reasons a lot of daylight bomber missions were flown was to get the LW up to shoot down.