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You will find prolific Youtubers who can give you a quick overview of what is good or bad about each aircraft and handling.
In the end, it also depends a lot on what you are looking for to 'do' inside the DCS sim.
If you are looking for quick paced multiplayer PvP action, you would be better served with certain aircrafts. Flaming Cliffs DLC bundles the most aircrafts for your buck:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2965350/DCS_Flaming_Cliffs_2024/
If you are interested in Single Player campaigns and playing solo, you might look at more 'difficult' aircrafts.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1417260/DCS_A10C_II_Tank_Killer/
Or, if you really, REALLY want to dig in deep, you would choose something like the A10C and read the 1000+ page manual, chapter by chapter. Learn about avionics, navigation systems, electrical and hydraulic parts, coms, radar, etc, etc and dive into the interactive tutorials until you do the 'official' certification missions.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/555530/A10C_Advanced_Aircraft_Training_Qualification_Campaign/
Sadly, aside from Caucasus and Marianas, the other maps you want to play on are not 'free', so you also have to make decisions on what combination of DLCs fits best for your taste (WWII? Syria? Afghanistan?...)
... btw, all the aircrafts have an 'easy mode' - with reduced complexity, auto-start, and so on - you can buy something 'tricky' and 'hard to master' but still switch the 'difficulty setting' and have some fun, before you get good at it, when you are tired of 'learning' the module.
Have fun!
Once you've learned 1 or 2 aircraft well, the code is broken and you'll understand DCS speak. Each aircraft is unique. But they all have things in common and as you get used to the complexity of one aircraft. The complexity of another doesn't seem to daunting.
Grim reapers also have lots of silly vidoes which seem to trigger people who think DCS should be treated aa a very serious subject matter at all times.
If you want PVP then Hornet or Viper are objectively the two best aircraft. They can do almost everything. They have modern sensors (as modern as they come in dcs at least)
Both are quite easy to fly, give you good control off everything.
Generally, my first question to you would be - do you have any experience with flight sims and what are your expectations from DCS. Because I feel like many people watch these sweet, juicy DCS cinematics on YT and have a misconception of what DCS really is about. Are you into hardcore, study sim level simulation, where you spend countless hours learning the aircraft and studying 500+ page manuals? Or just want to play a game with planes shooting things? DCS can provide both, but its core is hardcore simulation and so-called full-fidelity modules (with a clickable cockpit and most of the avionic systems simulated as in the real aircraft). But it also has non-full fidelity planes. These feature advanced flight model but have a non-clickable cockpit and game-like controls (these are the Flaming Cliffs bundle aircraft).
The good thing is you can check both module types for free. DCS offers a free Su-25T (Russian ground attack jet plane), which is a non-full-fidelity aircraft. And also a free TF-51 - a non-combat version of P-51 Mustang, which is a full-fidelity module.
There are also some great free modules from the very active DCS modding community, which are close to the official full-fidelity planes. The most interesting option is probably A-4 Skyhawk:
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/207102-community-a-4e-c/
https://flying-peregrine.com/files/a-4e-manual-en.pdf
Other nice free mod is a T-45 Goshawk (which is actually a jet training aircraft):
https://forum.dcs.world/topic/203816-vnao-t-45-goshawk/
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3331543/
So I'd suggest checking these first for free before buying some actual modules, to see if full fidelity flight sim is something you enjoy.
It's also important to mention that DCS has a Steam version and a standalone version. Buying on Steam you can also transfer your modules to the standalone. You can transfer them back to Steam, they just cannot be active for both versions at the same time. The standalone version has a free trial program (14 days). You can check most of the modules. You won't be able to learn the full fidelity module in such a short time frame, but you can check some training missions and see how it looks and feels.
Furthermore, you also have to be aware that DCS is not a cheap hobby. Obviously, you need a decent PC to run it, but it's also highly recommended to get a suitable hardware control setup. The best option is HOTAS (throttle and stick), rudder pedals and a head tracking device. But I want to make it clear that you don't need it to start playing DCS. You can even find some decent game pad profiles for it, but I'm just mentioning what is required to play this sim if you are serious about it.
And DCS itself is not cheap either. You have to pay for the aircraft module, the maps modules (if you want something different from the Caucasus and Marianas that are provided for free) and pay for campaigns if you want some more single-player content. But there is also a lot of free community made stuff (DCS User Files linked above).
Anyway, DCS can be a great fun, but my recommendation to you is to check the free stuff first to see if you are really into it.
BTW, here is a great guide for the beginners:
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326416/
The ones that interest you the most are the ones to go with. Don't worry about metas, etc. People who do that are silly considering that it's an experience curated not by the developers alone, but also server owners or even yourself.
Any aircraft that draws you and commands your interest is going to be the easiest to learn since you want to do so. You don't need a trainer or anything to work up from. I suspect the kind of people who recommend things like the F-5E just want newbies to seal club on airquake servers as opposed to recommending the F-5E based on it merits of being a fun little light fighter with limitations. Feel free to just jump into a Viper or a Hornet.
Once you got that sorted? Do not just sit down and read, read, read. This is a poor way to learn. Hit up the tutorials and read. Read, then apply what you just learn. Don't just study and cram, like this is high school. Have fun with it, it's how we instruct IRL. Take a concept, read about it, then apply it. It'll be easy to pick up anything that way.
As others have said. Your first aircraft module really should be the one that interests you the most. Don't worry about how "hard" it will be to learn or how much time it will take, just pick the one that grabs you and take the learning process one step at a time. That last bit is really important. A lot of new players will see all the flying techniques, tactics, weapons, and systems they will need to learn and try to cram everything in all at once. That doesn't work. The only thing doing that will get you is a wildly incomplete understanding of what you are trying to do and likely enough burnout to push you away.
In the thirteen or so years that I have been playing DCS in some form or another, I have watched a lot of new players come into the community and immediately get railroaded into the Youtube/PvP server pipeline. Part of this makes sense. Players who frequent public servers want more players involved. Having more players makes their experience better so they are going to encourage new folks to get into it quickly. Sadly. This usually results in new players getting pushed into PvP or public server scenarios in hopes that they will learn something only to find that such places are a very, very poor place to really get a feel for what they are doing.
To make matters worse, you have a selection of very popular entertainment focused Youtubers (some who keep their popularity by exploiting the Youtube algorithm) that often get portrayed as good learning resources. Sometimes they potentially can be but more often than not, you are getting wildly incomplete information and will end up learning just enough to get yourself stuck in a rut.
My advice? Start with the manuals that come with the modules in combination with a Chuck's guide if you require a more visual example of where something is. Chuck's guides are not really intended to be outright replacements to the manuals (even if some ignore that and present them otherwise) but they make great companion material.
Beyond all that. Without really knowing what kind of equipment you already have. It might be a good idea to start considering the setup you are working with. DCS modules are typically made with the already established flight simmer in mind so it is no surprise that one gets better results with a HOTAS setup with a lot of buttons/switches/axis controls, rudder pedals, and some kind of IR head tracking (or VR if your system can handle it).