Our aesthetic sense is a finely tuned heuristic for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of systems. It’s less that beautiful aeroplanes fly well and more that high performance designs are inherently beautiful.
The P-51 or Spitfire would lose to a T-28 or F8F, but the former look better to us. We are attuned now to designs like the Su-57 and F-22, so are less sensitive to the merits of systems that work a different regime.
Or maybe not so surprising. I had an eagle fly by me once at about arm's length, and at shoulder height. I was stunned by its deadly beauty. Right then I knew why so many countries adopt the eagle as their mascot.
Uhm...