Stating that RoF has just as much players online as IL-2 does is just wrong. The two RoF Syndicate servers are pretty much the only ones that have 10+ players online at a regular basis. I rarely see more than 50 on either one.
As far as online gaming goes, RoF is still well behind IL-2 when it comes to populated servers. Plus that the last three interesting dogfights I've been into on the Syndicate have been cancelled by a quite annoying disconnect. I can fly for an hour or ten minutes, doesn't matter. The disconnects happen Tvrdi and there's no way in hell there's "usually" 50+ players online at the Syndicate. Weekends yes, weekdays hell no. You sound like a RoF fanboy.
As for recommending the game itself, I sure can. But I would say that it's quite immature in comparison to IL-2. The next 5 patches will greatly improve RoF and 1.016 was just awesome.