I've got to say,I always fly with the icons off,I totally believe these are 'immersion' killers.
For navigation just check your map,where the enemy is,use your eyes,those red and blue arrows IMO suck all the atmosphere away.
Try it,use your eyes to look for that target,at the very least take off the aircraft icons,this IMO is much better,whilst in a dogfight you really have to check you're opponent to make sure your not shooting at friendly's,so get in close,check your enemy and nail him.
