It really isn't as hard as it appears to be, the only time you really adjust the prop pitch and throttle settings is during cruising. You can attain higher cruise speeds with lower throttle and slightly lower prop pitch, than you can with full prop pitch and full throttle.
Flaps I leave at full open (5 presses of the radiator button) on planes that have them. Its difficult to tell if the engine is overheating on several VVS planes because I disabled HUD messages, so I just play it safe. The VVS planes are pretty much (spare the MiG) turners, and for the most part people flying LW aircraft are impatient and will attempt to turn or keep the fight within your grasps. The more experiened LW pilots will actually dictate the fight entirely, so all you can do is manuever away from their guns and hope for a fleeting shot at them. The MiG is the only aircraft the VVS has thats good at high alts, but its still a difficult plane to master. The AM-38 engined MiG is only good at low alts - which is the same engine that powers the Il2.
Mixture, I leave at full until around 2000 meters, then bring it back to lean. At around 4000 meters if you still have full mixture, your plane will trail dark red stuff... smaller than smoke, about the size of the airshow smoke that comes off the wingtips.
Supercharger, most fights online (unless you take the fight up high yourself) occur below 2000meters. For most VVS planes, the supercharger you should kick in around 2500 to 3500meters.. theres an advanced PDF manual on the 2nd CD which tells the altitudes for each plane's supercharger. Keep in mind though, almost all VVS planes optimum altitudes are 500 - 2500 meters... at around 4000meters they should begin to suck.
I have all this stuff programed into my joystick, prop pitch on a rotary, mixture and supercharger stages to the up/down of a hat. Radiator flaps to another button.
I play on early 1943 servers and earlier, after that it all comes down to the person with the first shot wins due to the size and number of the weapons.
Its a whole other ballgame trying to dogfight and adjusting engine settings as you go through the atmosphere.
One of the coolest things, although not related to engine management, thats happened to me since the new patch: Was flying on 609IAP_Recon's server (great early war server with great difficulty settings) and had just taken off from a contested field in the I16 Tip24. I raise my gear, turn around and see several 109s attacking various VVS planes... several of them smoking/on fire with a lot of smoke coming from the ground (looked like an actual battlefield due to the prolonged smoke/fire). A 109 turns in front of me, give him a good burst - he falls out of the sky.
Another 109 zooms down on my, I kick the rudder and do the wierdest manuever ever. Don't know how to describe it, but I didn't gain much ground, I did get onto the 109's 6 though and shot him out of the sky.
I look around, nothing, level out and check my plane. Just then I hear gunfire from behind me, I break after taking a few hits and put myself into a flat spin. After 2 revolutions, I recover - but since the I16's engine will cut out with sustained negative Gs, I have no power and am at only 400 meters and dropping quickly. New patch allows engines to be restarted in air after they die to negative Gs. First time I try to start the engine, it sputters and coughs then dies. Now I'm at 200 meters, and have to put out one notch of flaps to avoid augering into a forest. Second try just as my flaps come out, and the engine comes back to life. I just barely avoid the forest and go back to base to land.
It was one of the coolest things ever, I guess because it just never happened like that in FB V1.0 or any other game.
-SW
