I never used a mouse for any WC games.
When I first got into WC, I had one of those extremely crappy cheap-o-sticks they packaged with PCs back in the days, needless to say, it lasted about oh, 2 weeks before I snapped it off the base (hey sometimes you think if you keep trying you can get that last bit of turn out of the old girl).
My dad, taking pity on me and knowing how much WC get me out of his hair (I was only 9 when it orginally came out) he went on to buy me a slightly better stick which lasted me about a year. They I found about Thrustmaster. I saw one at a computer store and quickly was hooked.
I soon got not only the F-16 FCLS, TQS and RCS for the PC, but also got the FCS, TCS (i think that's what the F-4 throttle was called? anyone?) and RCS for the macintosh.
The FCLS gave me many years of joy until I finally had used it so much that it did not even sit straight up on its base (it was a little back and to the left). So I eventually got the F-22 stick, which lasted until my dad's house was struck by lighting 2 years ago.
And that's the story of how Dundradal got his sticks....