Welcome to the genre Clarie, one that is too overlooked.
My advice is that the best flying to be had is with other people using Teamspeak\Ventrilo, whether that be in campaign or dogfight servers, and it's also the best way to learn, especially if you jump into a virtual squadron. You'll find that people on comms are very helpful unlike other genres because this is a bit of a niche area, and virtual squadrons usually always welcome beginners too (
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=25721)
One important point. This game/sim is ungoing some reconstruction so expect it to break as you go, the vendors are fixing it so it will improve, just be patient
