If you make a match like a Spitfire vs anything you kind of run into an ambiguity problem.

There are a shitload of Spitfire variants. They range from the "Pretty good at it's introduction date with some flaws" to "in the running for best all-round fighter of WWII".

Sometimes, the difference is just "they can go 50 kph faster in level flight and climb better because the newer one has a better engine" or "this one preform better at higher altitudes than the other one but it is heavier."

But on some WWII aircraft, the particular variant can be the difference between easily shooting down a "helpless" bomber and doing a head on attack into a bunch of 20 mm autocannons.

While generally speaking the later variants would stomp the hell out of the earlier variants. There are some aircraft with ground attack variants (the bomber Yak-9 (or was it a Yak-3?) for example) that would get crushed by earlier air superiority variants.

If you aren't sure which specific variant you want then say things like "late war Spitfire" or "pre-war B-17" or "That one Lavochkin prop with the ramjets" anything to narrow down the specific variant of the particular plane you want to use.