I wanted to have better controls for Tank Crew than with my warthog flight controllers.
Still experimenting, and i think TC works better with my Xbox controller on windows 11 once i got my setup right.
How? Use the latest Xinput Plus:
https://www.softpedia.com/get/Gaming-Related/XInput-Plus.shtml Set DirectInput to enable first, start IL2 and it shows up in your Keymapping Setup, and then you can sett up the buttons and axis X-Y-Z to your liking.
You could organize the USB joy ID numbers with JoyID as Xinput adds a new joyID number that might change your setup.
In my case only a new higher ID was added. If you find out more le'me know! Have fun!