There is a lot of WH fanboys out there....
I have a X45, X52, X55 and WH....
The WH outside is a beauty, realy is... But inside !!! Man, its one of the top worst joysticks on market. I had to sand it down, and applay new grease, and buy an extension, and still I prefer my Saitek joysticks. As long as you "only" do combat it might be ok, but try to do aerobatic formation with it !!!!
I am outterly disapointet, I should never have bought it, but there was so much htpe around it, that I did....
Return it, do try to mod it... There are some very good joysticks on the markes, special on the USSR market...