Bombing and taking out ground targets probably wins games more then shooting down enemy planes m8 some of us are spending money on it no doubt about that, i have, last weekend i reinstalled my game through Steam because they had some really cheap deals, cheaper then the original game, i got the War Thunder Ace pack, got me 2 planes, 10,000 Golden Eagles and 2 months Premium account, but i find the more you rank up the more you get your arse kicked because you gotta start upgrading your crew all of the time, talking to Capt Donkey yesterday and he told me he is staying around level 5 or 6 with his planes and maxing the crews skills out and making his planes quite powerful, so that is another way of improving, i know this game has the potential to make you spend huge amounts or nothing at all, i find spending a few quid a week (couple of pints of beer) just to keep a premium account (more points every game) and some Golden Eagles works ok for me, unless of course Steam puts more cheap deals on