Ive not been able to enjoy the game either in the last month.i actually had 20 minutes last night and noticed a very similar thing.kinda freezes controls in flight exept bomb and bullets work and the plane just dives into the ground and crashes.No text to say i killed when i down an enemy.i may have noticed it earlier if i could enjoy it and play it again.
On another subject with the smoke trails.Z i know you said that you had sorted out the program to detect the device but the slow down is a killer.For me and possibly others,it is impossible to dogfight with the plane you are chasing that is smoking.please put an option in settings like the clouds to disable smoke trails.If i had just downloaded the game it would have been uninstalled within a day which is a concern to newcomers and the games future popularity.