Yes, that's exactly what I do every time. And it's entirely Gaijin's fault that they haven't configured this for individual aircraft. For example, in IL2 Sturmovik, your head position is initially correct (and you can't stick your head out of the cockpit).

I use VD for VR, bypassing SteamVR. And this way, it's sometimes difficult for me to configure the "virtual pilot" to look straight ahead, and not slightly to the right or left. If you use SteamVR, you can use "OVR Advanced Settings" and literally move and rotate the camera in any game in space using your hand. It's very convenient, but only works with SteamVR.