The airplanes are quite brave and fly very strangely in the stock game. It seems that the accuracy goes up later in the war. It's nice that the early Hurricanes are so bad at shooting because those 20 mm can openers weren't really introduced until '41 (Hurri Mk.IIc).
After an attack, planes will do this odd hammer-head wing-over that defies physics. When I tried GWX on my good computer, it did seem to fix this, and gave the Hurris more speed.
Right now, I fear Swordfish more than Hurris. They are slow, and easy to hit, but they are tough, and pretty accurate with their DC's. Even if one is on fire, it will still attempt a run.
What I really don't like is how aircraft never give up. If my plane was on fire, and if I wasn't being fried to a crisp, I would ditch it right away to avoid a deadly explosion. If I knew I was getting hit, I would turn for home - no telling if fuel or oil is leaking or if some structural component is damaged.
This is especially bad with Sunderlands. One of the single missions gives you a Type XXI dual twin-flak turrets. Because the batteries were damaged and fuel was leaking, I was stuck on the surface. I hit a Sunderland multiple times, but it just kept coming around again and again. I really wish my 20mms had explosive shells like the fighters!
1946 is a great game. I prefer the hard-copy because the Steam version has some kind of bug (check Il-2 ubi or 1c forums for more info). There's also zero copy protection, so you can simply copy-paste the game folder a few times for a backup, vanilla, and modded installs if you so prefer.
Current version is 4.11. More patches are still being written.
Although it lacks true engine and systems management, it has plenty of aircraft to chose from, pretty accurate flight models, and good "feel" of flight that I haven't gotten from other sims. It's really not good in the naval/merchant department though, if that's your cup of tea. There's only two cargo vessels and a trawler, but there are lots of warships. There is no ship AI, convoys, etc. Subs are stuck to the surface only.
Il-2 is also not built for modding as SHIII was. However, several big mod packs exist, but the quality of material varies (some great, some crap). I suggest playing with the stock game for some time before expanding to mods as there's a ton of material to start with.
Have fun with it!
PS - if you have a good computer, try Cliffs of Dover, the sequel to Il-2 1946: