Here is a great resource for all armchair pilots, newb or otherwise;
http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/main.html While the site is a business and they charge for the disks, there is a bunch of free content (including the vid posted earlier). I've learned a lot from watching these vids and reading the pdf's from here. It's an amazing testament to the historical accuracy built into IL2, that studying the real techniques and tactics used with the real aircraft is usually the best way to learn how they work in the game (The simplifications and imperfections being a given)