hello, if anyone could help me.. plz
well the default key to fire is backspace and this makes it a pretty akwerd angle to fly and shoot so i changed it to my mouse but it when i tried it, it didnt work! >,< ive tried reseting it numerous times but it still wont shoot for my damn mouse or OTHER keys ...

The game is virtually unplayable without a joystick. I currenly have one of the cheapest available. Got it for around 20 euros, but I'm sure you can get something for around $20 :)
And online is where it's at, so I suggest you try to get into that too. And yes, it will be normal that you fly hours upon hours without actually managing to shoot down an enemy plane ;)
Best of luck!

As stated by others, IL2 really needs a joystick to be enjoyed. It also benefits greatly from
something called "Track IR" (naturalpoint.com)this is rather expensive but ooooh so worth
it. There is a free head tracker out there called "Free Track", www.free-track.net, however it
will require some practical fiddeling along with a webcam.
The original IL2 does only support 2 degrees of freedom(Horizontal & Vertical rotation.)
The Unified Installer will make IL2 support the full 6 degrees of freedom. In addition
the game will be greatly enhanced both visually and audially along with allowing many,
many more planes to be flown. Its really a MUST download.
http://allaircraftarcade.com/forum/index.php