So...how bad is the deadzone using a flightstick?

[TexRoadkill]

I don't think there is really much of a deadzone. It seems to be more about how twitchy or smooth the plane handles like Steiner has observed. This is even more obvious if you switch from Arcade to Sim mode.

[David6O3]

I would like to think that this apparent dead zone on the Spitfire is a result of the real life early Spitfires having more than average slack in their control wires, resulting in a certain amount of control fuzziness, but this is probably wishful thinking.

[TexRoadkill]

I've never been in the cockpit of a WW2 fighter but I doubt the mechanical controls were very tight after a few thousand hours of flight.