And always prepare for the case you have to crash land. When you have feeling that you cannot stay in the air any longer, go for a crash landing immediately (unless you're still in enemy territory, but even in that case you don't have much choice). Crash landing in IL-2 is not so risky as in real life, since IL-2 world is pretty flat, but it doesn't mean you will survive 100 out of 100. Fly toward the river, it's very flat there with virtually no obstacles. And unless you land on a airstrip with proper power control, wheel down landing is out of question. It's always nice to have your aircraft still in one piece, but the risk of losing pilot is greater as well. IRL, belly landing does quite few damage to the fuselage, and bent propeller can be replaced easily in matter of hours. Just don't break your wing
