This happened back in IL2:1946 as well. Some aircraft you just pushed the throttle to full and you had emergency power, in some others you had to press the W key.
Another thing to keep in mind is that not all aircraft were physically setup like this in reality, so for some of them there simply is no way around the button. For example, in the 109 we should just be moving the throttle and watching the manifold pressure gauge but the Ju87 has a separate lever to activate WEP. Another example, in the Spit it was possible to just push the throttle through the gate but in the Hurricane the pilot had to pull the boost cut-out control.
In short, i agree that in some aircraft where we now have to press a button the more realistic thing would be to just push the throttle forward, but there are also aircraft where the button is the realistic way to go.
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