The 2D view has a straight ahead view and a downward angled view. Pressing the POV hat down on my joystick, angles it down, pressing the "Spacebar" reverts it to the straight ahead view.

It is possible that the [VIEWS] in the panel.cfg might change this (in the Main 2D view). :(

This is what I'm talking about:
[VIEWS]
VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL

VIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=0.600
VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=0.000, 0.000, 0.000

And this from the FSX SDK:
view_forward_dir - Enables you to change the default value of the view direction. Enter values for Pitch, Bank, and Heading.

Check and see if you have these in the aircraft's panel.cfg. You might have to set it to 0.000, 0.000, 0.000 so you get a straight ahead view, which is the way the misiles and guns work.

Mark