Depending on how experienced you are, you may wish to consider the option of grabbing a spitfire and dtaying in the horde for safety till you have learned the basics, otherwise, you'll get isolated and then shot down, this can have a negative effect on confidence, so like I said earlier, stay with the pack, learn the basics and never fly alone. Once you have a grasp of what's going on then you'll know what type of plane you want to fly as you will have come up against them while in the spit,
I totally disagree with this!! this will only teach you to be timid, and having to depend on the crowd for your safety,
screw that, that IS NOT how you should learn,read every thing you can about every plane, not how it was in history but how it is here in AH, history does not match up. also as some others have said, seek out a trainer, from what I hear there are some very good trainershere in AH. once you have done those take up,-
LA7 or 5, Both are very good turners and you can chase down those that run(most of them)
N1k or Ki-84
Yaks are great little planes just low ammo and fuel.
of course there is the HurriMK2C,(my favorite) you wont run from anyone but the cannons are very deadly, and you can out turn pretty much every thing else. in the right hands its extremely dangerous and fully capable of taking on the hourde with some ALT, backing you. set your convergence short, say around 300, fire at that distance and you will be amazed at how quickly planes explode.
then go into the main Arena, STAY AWAY from the friendly hourde, and fly towards a red dar, this will, as time goes by very much improve your SA, Merge tactics, you will learn to depend on your self to chk your 6, not others.
remember ALT is your friend, take off from a base NOT under attack,(until you are ready for that)
DONT worry about dying there are nice new shinny planes in the Hanger just for you.
most importantly fly the way that fits you, don't worry about those that whine or complain about how you fly, enjoy yourself and have fun.
JETSOM