EasyMo, I think you missed something. You do know that their is a zoom view ability in Aces High, right? You can do it online, from within the cockpit. It probably is one of the culprits for why so many people can perform long range gunnery (1000 yards instead of 300).
Yup, the second screenshot is zoomed in. It looks better/realistic when you have the point of view zoomed in so the monitor isn't a 90 degree picture, but rather a 35 degree one.
Hans.