I have played the il2 on 3 different screens, 3 different resolutions and 4 video cards, 1024 x 760 before now 1680 x 1050, never had any kind problems seeing dots... And my eyesight sucks, I have that on paper!
Surely theres _something_ to do with your eyesight, resolution, your game graphics, but this is also about knowing where to look and how. It helps a lot to see them move against the background. To my experience the people whining most about this issue are those with little or no experience trying to spot them without the help of icons, map icons, exterior views etc. Not always, though.
I before thought the AF and AA higher than 4 meant that the dots would "blend" much more into the background, especially ground details, but I recently noticed I had been playing with 16 x AF 6 x AA and hadnt noticed any difference.