Even now in 2008, some people are new to Battlefield 1942 and most people won't take the time to tell you, so here is a wiki to help.

[edit] Steps

Get in the plane.
- Hold W to go forward.
- A and D turn left and right.
- Moving your mouse left rolls the plane left.
- Moving your mouse right rolls the plane right.
- Moving your mouse back makes the plane angle up.
- Moving your mouse forward makes the plane angle down.
- Left clicking or pressing space fires the machine guns
Drop bombs. Right clicking drops bombs.
Slow down. Landing gear pops out automatically if you go slow enough
In case you need your parachute. The default button for a parachute is 9, but you will want to change it to F so you can pull it easy.

[edit] Tips

F9-12 are the different camera angles, F10 is 3rd person view, use it to bomb and F9 is 1st person view (press F9 twice to not show cockpit dashboard)