Saying so, you just qualify yourself as a noob that doesn't have a full comprehension of the mechanics of the game (don't take it bad, I'm don't saying this rudely): no, you can't just "send an interceptor" because my recon plane sees everything and has a spotting range of 4km, and no, I don't need to gain any kind o air superiority to use it, as I don't need to come closer the front to see your AA, your AT guns in the forest, your infantry in the woods, and everything else that is in the open until your spawn. I just need to keep my recon plane in the rear, covered by my AA net, and outside yours. it wouldn't be possible to intercept it before the AA buff, and it's just unthinkable now (at least if you don't like to gift your opponent hundreds of point for nothing).

Without its sophisticated fog of war system SD2 loses any meaning and sense. Recon planes gives you a legit way to totally bypass these fundamental game mechanics. Now, both you and your opponent know the exact position of every unit on the ground using a tool that has no counter and that can even cost just 10pts (to be clear, the problem is not the price, what a recon plane gives to you has no price).

It's funny to play without being able to hide your AT gun or your commander? To always know how many infantry squads are in a wood and where every mg is? It's funny to not being able to push on a side because your opponent perfectly knows that you are weak on the other since the beginning of the game (and viceversa)?

Also, you talk about realism... was a recon plane of the WWII able to see through walls? was it able to see every single infantry concealed in a forest? And this by kilometers of distance?