I have flown the spit a few times these past few days and it certainly is a very stable aircraft it's a joy to fly compared to the 109, that said I did but it into a flat spin which I could not get out of last night after pulling off a unsuccessful manouver trying to hit a 109.
The lack of speed does suck but so does the 109 it's got the flight model of a 104 star fighter while the spit is more like a sopwith pup
From my brief flights with the spit here is my cons and pros for both aircraft.
Spit
Pros
Very stable
Easy to aim
Amazing turning
Very tough (need more flight time to confirm this)
Cons
Very slow
Slow rate of climb
Lack of ammo
109
Pros
Fast
Fast rate of climb
Good armament
Cons
Very unstable/easy to stall
Hard to aim due to above (more of a personal problem I imagine
)
More prone to damage
Summary
Both aircraft need a lot of work but it's fair to say that anyone in there right mind in a 1v1 fight would opt for the 109. Even with its bad FM the 109 will win most fights hand down unless out numbered and even then it can just nose down and run for home.
The damage model is screwed up IMHO the spit can take much more damage than the 109 for sure, for example I was hit by flak in a spit and didn't feel any effects from 3 HUGE holes in my wing I didn't the 109 would have lost a control or would have to rtb from such damage.
From what I have read about the early spit vs 109 the two were a clos match with the 109 with slight advantages.