Skuzzy, running at 256 textures, and 1280x1024 res at default Levels of Detail, I saw increased usage at low alt, and on the runway, at A8. A total of maybe 4 aircraft and a few GVs, RAM used went up to 500 plus while on Full Vis Range.
While attacking a land base on one of the small islands in the eastern part of the current map, from a CV, I ran the same settings, in Full and Ground vis ranges (was attacking planes initially, then GVs). At that base (V18, I think), even though I was flying very low, and there were multiple cons, 3 burning/smoking hangars, etc, RAM usage never exceeded 380. Over the water, it was varying from ~310 350. I ran into decreased FPS flying through the smoke, but no appreciable increase in RAM.
In all situations, I was using about 46mb for textures, and 30-40 mb of vid ram. Another thing I noticed later over A8, was that as I climbed to alt, my Sys RAM used decreased, and FPS doubled when I got about about 8k or so. At lower alt, after the RAM used started to sharply increase, my FPS was bouncing back and forth from 30 to 60. At 15k, I was using only 320mb of RAM or there abouts, and the game ran extremely smoothly.
It seems that the ground objects are one major factor here, at least for me.
Anyway, let me know if you need any more info.
Thanks,