Strijkbout: I can't think of a reason why binding Tab to a button wouldn't work.
That the Saitek software doesn't work on the DOS Wing Commanders doesn't surprise me because they run in Dosbox and Saitek software can't see the game .exe running in an emulated environment, what you can do in those cases is setting the software to use a fixed profile when playing or use Dosbox keymapper (Ctrl-F1).
If you still have problems you can always give JoyToKey a try.

boct1584: Prophecy was a Windows game.

Freeleaves: I'm finding this hard to believe but in prophecy there's no afterburner button on the joystick. All u can do is hit the tab button. this is a major problem for me since im using a saitek x52 pro with throttle. i've tried using the saitek software that lets u remap joystick buttons. but unfortunately all the wing commander games just wont recognize this and just resort to their default buttons for joysticks. anyone have any suggestions?