So, it’s to my understanding that the clipped wing Spitfire is just flat out worse than the normal Spitfire Mk.IX, whilst being at a higher BR. Why is this?
The Israeli ones?
Clipped Wing version is an LF Mk.IX while the lower BR one is an F Mk.IX
Regular F Mk.IX has the Merlin 61 engine that was optimised for high altitude combat IRL. It’s armed with 4x .30 cal brownings and 2x 20mm Hispanos
LF Mk.IX have Merlin 66 engines which offers better performance at the typically low altitudes combat in War Thunder takes place at. LFs also have access to the 150 Octane fuel modification that increases performance a lot.
Armament is arguably also better replacing the 4x .30 cals with 2x .50 cals alongside the 2x Hispanos.
Clipped wings also offer you a better roll rate
The roll and armament are better, however turning in dogfights and engine power both seem worse.
Living in a parallel reality
Are you comparing the 2 Israeli spitfires?
The ClippedWing one has a higher engine output and a 2 gear supercharger, the extra power offsets the worse wing design for turning (both have about the same sustained turn rate), but you get the advantage of higher roll rate and it’s slightly lighter IIRC.
I had great results with the CW. Climbs really well and what you can’t outturn you can outclimb/outspeed. The roll rate is a life saver when someone is behind you and also allows you to have a much easier time when aiming or positioning yourself for a gun solution.
Its bad when stock, but after upgrading it its great, the 150 octane mod will make a big difference so get that asap. Beware that spitfires in general guzzle fuel very fast in WEP.