Yes it can take quite some explaining and eyebrow raising to swindle a HOTAS system. The luck was with me though as I found all three CH Pros on ebay 2 years ago for £90, that was not such a hard sell.
Ah Dynamix, I still have the boxes for the Aces Series. I think I can also lay the blame for my poor flying skills on that game as I used to just turn hard rudder circle to get behind any aircraft. Can't do that with todays combat sims as your just a sitting duck.