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Doesn't a supercharger (or turbocharger for that matter) run as a single intake, and then splits a tube towards each cylinder?
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Yes and you are correct in that metering fuel anywhere in the intake system is not going to give you the power gains compared to injecting precisely metered fuel directly into the combustion chamber.
The drawbacks to direct injection are the expense and complexity. The BMW801 series used 14 high pressure fuel pumps and consisted of more parts than the entire rest of the engine.
The supercharger technology of the allies combined with better fuels restored the balance.
You cannot point to Direct Injection technology and say it was decisive and gave the German engines better performance over the allied ones anymore than you can point to better fuel quality and supercharger technology of the allies as being better than the German engines.
In the air war over Europe, all sides developed their engines and fielded 2000 hp plus designs by the wars end. The implications made a few folks that fuel technology was decisive are not correct when one takes in the whole picture. Fuel quality and supercharger technology simply maintained the balance with fuel metering technology as well as superior chemical engineering.
That any of these engines were routinely operated outside of their published guidelines is another ludicrous idea hatched in the gaming world but that is another subject.
