[RichardH]

How to Land On A Carrier -
From Dart's training tracks,click on the Icon named Files and select either Tracks or Movies to watch>
http://www.darts-page.com/

That approach is horrible. You can't see the deck, let alone the LSO/batsman (I know that IL2 doesn't feature a batsman) during the approach!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpfZBWZ07XI
2.27 into this video, there's a Royal Navy Corsair landing on an Illustrious class carrier. See that curved approach? That was how they did it back in the days (Both the US and Royal Navies) if not you wouldn't be able to see the LSO.

One thing that's also apparent in that vid is the lack of wind modelling in the game. In almost every ww2 clip i've seen, the planes land much "softer" on the deck compared to the game (because of the 30knot wind racing across the deck towards the landing planes.) So with an approach speed of 90kts, the actual landing speed is much "less" since the ship is steaming at about 25-30 knots, and you're facing a 20-30knot headwind across the deck.