Cheech, Mailman, 49ers, me and quite a flew others are on IL2.
They have servers from air start with icons and no engine management like AH3 (normal server)
To air-start with no icons and having to manage engine (dogfight server)
To scenario type servers where the fight lasts for a couple hours. (Combat box, Wings of Freedom and Finish pilots for example)
Combat box is usually the busiest during US times. All the other servers tend to top out around 2PM EST on weekdays.
You're going to want to setup IL2 SRS (simpleradio standalone) If you want to talk with the tower and command and other players on Combatbox. You can get vectors to enemy or call for help and have other planes vectored to you position by command on channel 1. You can also request a callsign from the tower on channel 2.
Make sure you get the IL2 version and not the DCS version. They are different.
Also you are going to want to get VR Necksafer if you use VR.
Feel free to PM me or look for =HazMatt= over there.
There's also a thread in O'club you might find useful.
https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,408729.0.htmlHope that helps.