Nah, as I understand it, it's a new innovation for the console version. Credit to them for trying something different, but I think the effect has been to hurt the community, whereby those that got in early and got the planes dominate, and those that didn't come on, get whalloped a couple of times, and move on. Most other games tend to have unlockables that are a bit more balanced, so they reward players for playing a lot of online, and online well, but not in such a way that it makes newcomers struggle when they first jump on.

I really hope they carry over your your wins/kills. I have 20 wins in a bomber (all legit) and I don't want to have to start from scratch...