Hi, I bought A2OA last week and went and bought A2 this week... predominantly for the helos and armour after many years of the glorious EECH (and gunship 2000 which got me hooked!)

Where should I start/what can be done with helos to create great helo campaigns?

eg
Are there any helo campaigns out there?
Are there mods to change the hit boxes/damage allocation of the helos?
Are there alternative flight models?
Can the hud display thrust/rotor torque?
Are there weapon mods I need for LOAL and LOBL etc?
Any other must haves for helo operations?

I'm looking around the official websites and armaholc but there is a lot to get up to speed with so any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Hey and welcome. Helicopters can be fun in Arma, but unfortunately, there are limitations. The maps are too small compared to proper helo sims, the avionics and FM are rudimentary, the AI doesn't use any proper stand-off tactics, and some of the HUD/sights are broken in the new expansion. Hopefully they'll be fixed in a patch.

That said, flying insertions/extractions can be a blast, as well as flying CAS for ground forces. I've made a few missions where you cover a rescue mission with an Apache or AH-1 that I keep coming back to. It's never gonna be Longbow2 as far as a flightsim, but the Hi-Def ground forces interactions make it even better in some ways.

Jump into the editor by setting up some targets and fly around blasting them, search and ask questions at http://forums.bistudio.com/ .

BTW didn't a patch add a Apache campaign in the game? EW or something.

Yes, Eagle Wing was patched in along with the Apache.

Ugh. I'm getting frustrated by the collective controls and generally the control systems. Sometimes with no HOTAS input I oscillate nose up/down...ugh. Also, I spend a lot of time flying backward...possibly related...after quick/sharp turns or flares, it's very hard to get forward momentum...or pull when I'm heading to the ground....

That nose up/down oscillation, I often see that when "autohover" is enabled.

I always loved flying insertions in OPF (made my own missiosn for this purpose) and an Oh-58 with unguided weapons is also quite fun in COIN (the infantry are more than just manpads!)