Sounds like the screen resolution issue. If you are using a screen resolution larger than 1024x768 then many users report that the ship spins when they launch, and some users can then Alt-Tab out and back in to fix it, but for some the fix is only temporary. For me, when using my native desktop resolution it would cause the spinning issue every time my ship launched, but Alt-Tab would fix it for the duration of the current mission.

If you've used the nglide configurator to force a larger resolution or your desktop resolution (or if you have another GOG game using nglide and have set that one with such a resolution, as nglide stores its settings in registry so they are shared with all instances of the executable) then this is probably why. Either use 1024x768 (which GOG have as the default game settings on their installation, but ensure that nglide isn't forcing a different resolution - it should be application controlled) or continue to use the Alt-Tab fix.