[Juha]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

It would make a difference what each side's assigned objective was. If the Spitfires & Hurricanes were going after bombers and the Bf 110s were trying to protect the bombers then that sort of outcome wouldn't be surprising perhaps.

Hello Nick
true but was that the most common scenario in May-June 40? I cannot recall, at least there were some big Hurricane vs 110 combats over France IIRC and anyway IMHO the exchange rate for 110 was clearly better than one would expect from “a totally outclassed twin against modern S/E fughters”. One reason might have been that British pilots had not used to fight against T/E fighters with powerful nose armament. Even during early BoB there were cases of Spitfires making head on attacks against 110s, maybe not the best tactic against 110 by more nimble S/E fighter.

Juha