I believe, as usual, in simulation, not in a romantic nostalgic idea of what flying these machines could be like (yes, we can 'skip' long flights and other very inconvenient things since we have limited time, just like we don't need to simulate needing to go to the bathroom when flying - we get that problem at our desk anyway).
Principles to be followed:
The pilot's eyes should never leave his head (no external cameras, no switching to other crewmembers, alive or dead).
Sound & vision should depend on the type of damage done to the pilot. Projectile pierce your heart or a major artery, first tunnel vision (with motio blur), then no vision, then sound getting blurry and fading. Cranium struck by a heavy machine gun or high explosive cannon shell leaves no dying breath type stuff - just black silence.
I also think that the pilot's body should be rendered and that the gore effects can be as real as they can be made (as option only, never difficulty setting). Blood squirting on windscreen, instruments, pilot heart piercing screams when stuck on fire in the cockpit - heavy breathing, color distortions, facial lacerations (blood in your eye, have to wipe it every few seconds), hearing loss on one ear or both, ringing in ears, getting arms/legs disabled strongly affecting flying controls, and even decapitation (imagine camera suddenly tumbling around in the cockpit down into the lap of the pilot, quickly getting tunnel vision then blacking out). All kinds of disgusting horror.
A text message if death is instantaneous - text starting to fade in slowly after 1 second of complete silence/blackness. A black quiet screen always makes me think my computer froze or my graphical card died.
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Why do I want this? Because this is much closer to what being a pilot of a flying war machine of the 1930's and 1940's was about. If there were horrifying representations of injury or death, I would be even more motivated to avoid it. I sometimes like to treat it like 'air quake', dog fighting with no strings attached, and I understand why people like that. But to stop there is to be dishonest to our past history.
As a bonus, I think that cold realistic gore and death will help stop real war and violence more. Seeing the movie "Saving Private Ryan" will teach any kid that war is not some cool exciting game, and I wish the same for Storm of War. There were real people of flesh and blood in those machines, not just machines fighting machines (which is what many airmen felt like they were fighting).