Fugi nailed it. Everything that distracts my concentration on the game eventually leads to me being shot down. There's no such thing as multitasking in the human brain. Rolland, as I understand from your other posts you tend to like authenticity up to a point like in your question about radiator, cowl and mixture controls. Most likely the real ww2 pilots didn't study their tutorials during flights either, nor do the current pilots watch YouTube videos on their HUDs. They study the theory on the ground and practice with a tutor before getting to the real action. We have the Training Arena along with trainers for that purpose.
Or you can do like many of us myself included: Get a grasp of the basic controls, see some drawings about the basic manoeuvres and die a lot. After all, this is "only" a game, you won't get any medals nor a military graving ceremony in Arlington for this.
